A Brief History Of Breakfast & Why It's The One 'Invention' You Should Skip

You probably swear by motto, 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.'

But how did breakfast become the most important meal of the day? So important that most people genuinely believe that skipping breakfast is a travesty?

The credit for this brilliant idea goes to a 1944 marketing campaign launched by Grape Nuts manufacturer General Foods, all in a bid to sell more cereal.

To understand this further, we need to first get well-versed with the beguiling history of breakfast.

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The invention of cereal.

The modern era of breakfast begins with cereal. Before its invention, breakfast was not as standard or routine.

"The Romans believed it was healthier to eat only one meal a day," food historian Caroline Yeldham wrote.

Abigail Carroll writes in 'The Invention of the American Meal,' that many Native Americans only ate bits of food throughout the day rather than three set meals and, sometimes fasted for days at a time.

Of medieval Europe, historians alternatively write that breakfast was only a luxury for the rich, only a necessity for labourers, or mostly skipped.

Historians tend to agree that breakfast became a daily, first thing in the morning concept once workers moved to cities and became employees who worked set schedules. That¡¯s why breakfast achieved its supreme popularity during the Industrial Revolution. It was simple, people who were going off to a full day¡¯s work naturally started their day with a hearty meal. Thereby, making breakfast a thing. There was already a tradition of certain foods¡ªlike bread, cheese, porridge, or leftovers.

But once breakfast became fully a part of most workers' lives, the American breakfast grew increasingly popular like dinner. Americans wanted items like meat, potatoes, cake and pie to eat for breakfast. This was certainly not a recipe for good health. Americans complained about indigestion and rapid weight gain. A simpler and lighter meal at breakfast became the need of the hour. And what Americans then got was cereal.

Gimme cereal!

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Cereal was invented by a man called James Kellogg in 1890¡¯s as a healthy solution to complaints of weight gain and indigestion. But this is where things get interesting.

Like any food trend, though, the marketers took over. Advertising was they key to the cereal business. Cereal manufacturers claimed that cereal cured everything up to malaria and appendicitis.

Proclamations on today¡¯s cereal boxes that they are 'a good source of vitamin D,' go back to the 1920s when Americans were obsessed with vitamins.

There was one and only one simple reason for this constant barrage of advertising when it came cereal: to sell it. There are also a number of reasons why the battle over breakfast is particularly competitive and viciously so.

How a brand that convinces you enough owns your breakfast.

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The first is that any company that convinces you to eat their cereal, pop tarts, or granola bars absolutely owns your breakfast. This is because most people eat the same breakfast every day. Studies have found that consumers have strong brand loyalty to breakfast foods like cereal.

Another is that while some Americans cook breakfast, people¡¯s desire for a fast, convenient meal means that many breakfast foods are packaged products that rely on advertising. You can establish cereal as quick, on-the-go snack on the basis of one fact: cereal is extremely easy to make.

The final reason why the marketing battle over breakfast is so fierce is that corporations have for decades seen it as the meal that offers the most opportunity to ring out more food spending from consumers.

As industry members explained in a TIME article, ¡°throughout the fast food world, lunch and dinner sales have been flat for years, while breakfast sales have climbed steadily.¡± You can find the same logic in cereal makers¡¯ 1944 marketing and advertising strategy¡ªthe one that coined the phrase ¡°Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.¡±

So there we have it.

The fact that breakfast is any grocer's most promising target became the reason why advertisers sold breakfast to the world as the most crucial aspect of any healthy and balanced diet.

And as to why you should skip breakfast? The healthiest people I know?¡ª?athletes, trainers, fitness models?¡ª?eat only one meal per day (and it¡¯s never in the morning), or a few meals within an 8-hour window. This is called intermittent fasting, or time-restricted eating, and it¡¯s how things were done for millions of years before corn flakes.

Bottom line: if your health matters to you, work out and eat healthy. Don¡¯t believe everything you hear in advertising. Remember: breakfast has no mystical powers. Skip it, eat it. Do whatever, it¡¯s all okay.