What did you have for breakfast? That's one of my favorite questions as I am a die hard believer in breakfast all day. It's occurred to me that no matter how much I try, I find myself impossibly stumbling to recreate those serendipitious travel morning meals. Every place that I've been to, I can safely say that breakfast has always been so memorable that as I write this, saliva continues to dribble from my mouth ( No, I'm not currently hungry).
Don't get me wrong. I travel with a tight budget. I don't like to overspend on food unless it's truly worth it. As luck would have it, my morning meals always fell into the lower end of the dollar spectrum.Class, let's begin in Italy. The country is well known to have mindblowing food regardless of it all but I have never in my life experienced a creamier, luxurious and a more soul warming cappuccino. It cost me pennies and was the most amazing cup of java I've ever inhaled. Chase the cappuccino with some fresh cornetti and brioches (find an Italian bakery and buy these stat, although they probably won't be as good as from the mothership) and I've got Adriano Celentano singing a solo to me through my stomach. All for the grand total of around 4-5 American Dollars. I hate you Starbucks.
The Caribbean breakfast is something to experience. I'm not talking about the round of the mill buffet style garbage but rather the stuff that the locals can acquire and treat you to if they see a smiling friend in your eyes. In the Dominican Republic, there is the tantalizing and brilliant Mangú. It's green plaintains cooked in a way that will break your heart and added to fried eggs with fried salami and fried cheese. It will fuck you up if you have existing cholesterol problems so beware. Mexican food I can just talk about for monthes. I love it and have mastered many authentic Mexican recipes to the tee (and am damn proud of it) . Tortillas, huevos rancheros, super spice early in the morning...heaven for me. What escapes me, however, is a ridiculously good hot chocolate. Massive and delicious Mexican mugs of hot chocolate with milk among other things (egg yolks, heavy cream, masa (corn dough), molasses, vanilla, cinnamon and a number of other spices). You've never had hot chocolate until you've had an authentic Mexican one. Trust me.
I could go on and on about this topic, but I will come to a close with the most simplest of tastes and yet the most refined. When I was living in Spain some years back, my friends and I didn't have a kitchen area to prepare breakfast. We were left with the option of eating out ( expensive) or buying groceries and attempting to cook without an existing kitchen. Every morning, we went to the market by our place and picked up a couple of very simple ingredients; Manchego cheese, Iberico cheese, Iberico ham, Serrano ham, crusty bread, Coca-Cola, boxed red wine. We would take this back and enjoy little morning tapas with the best ham and cheese on the planet, chased by morning calimochos(50% wine, 50% Coke). Nothing, and I repeat, nothing is as good to me as Spanish ham and cheese. There are too many damn bans on their ham in the US but if you are lucky enough to get it elsewhere....get it! And eat it all on behalf of me.
Wherever you are in the world, go enjoy breakfast. It's a sin not to.
photo via trails.com
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