Five Facts You May Not Know About Breakfast UncategorizedBean Bulletin, Breakfast, Fast Facts Breakfast is a relatively new concept and did not exist in the United States, as we know it today, until the mid to late 1800s. According to Abigail Carroll, a food historian and author of Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal, a morning meal in the 1600s was likely to be leftovers, stewed grains, or cheese and bread. By the mid to early 1700s, meat and fish were often added, and this was a sign of growing prosperity. The breakfast we know today came about as a result of the industrial revolution and more people flocking to live in cities. James Caleb Jackson invented the first breakfast cereal in 1863. It was called “granula” and required soaking overnight to be chewable. The word “cereal” comes from the ancient Greek word “cerealia,” a major festival celebrating Ceres, the goddess of agriculture. February is National Hot Breakfast Month! Every traditional breakfast around the world is unique. In China, breakfast includes fried dough sticks (or “youtiao”) and warm soymilk. Colombian breakfast is typically arepas, a dense, slightly sweet corn cake that’s served with butter, jam, meat or egg. A traditional English breakfast is a hearty feast including eggs, sausage, bacon, beans, mushrooms, cooked tomatoes and toast. And a Swedish breakfast is typically an open-faced sandwich topped with fish or cold cuts, cheese, mayonnaise, cucumbers and tomatoes.