Some of you read my Best Breakfast piece and took issue with one or more of my recommendations. That is fine. You do not have to like my choices. Unfortunately, the breakfast I composed is perfect and I would like to take this opportunity to guide you through my thinking.

BALANCE

Doctors recommend food from 3 out of 5 food groups for one balanced breakfast. No problem. While increasing breakfast volume is a good place to start, and it is where I started, you must also consider variety. My Best Breakfast includes several categories, including, but not limited to:

1 bread
3 fruit
2 protein
4+ dairy
1 milkshake
1.5 vegetable or vegetable adjacent
2 cubes

Doctors would have to go back on their word to be upset about this breakfast, and due to a variety of legal and moral codes, I doubt they would ever do that. This is why we trust and respect doctors.

KANT’S THEORY OF PERCEPTION

"Thoughts without content are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind."

Consider my Best Breakfast, and then consider Immanuel Kant’s theory of perception. The word “best” is a synthetic proposition, stemming solely from my comprehension of my life’s experiences and the preferences that have grown out of those experiences. “Breakfast” SEEMS like an analytic proposition, but no. It’s also synthetic. Notice I haven’t specified WHEN to eat the best breakfast. I refuse to specify. “Breakfast” is based on the majority of the foods included. Let’s break this down:

Widely Agreed Upon Breakfast Items:

biscuit w/ jam and butter
soft scrambled eggs with cheese and hot sauce
extra crispy bacon
coffee w/ cream

Widely Disagreed Upon Breakfast Items:

McDonalds french fries
strawberry milkshake
arugula salad

Gray Area:

sliced kiwi
water with two cubes

Based on a majority-rules scenario, where the gray area is automatically rendered void due to its lack of relevance and conflict, my Best Breakfast contains more Widely Agreed Upon Breakfast Items than not. This is why I call it “Breakfast” but ultimately, this is all MY personal comprehension of breakfast, and is not an indisputable, self-contained fact. In other words, it’s my opinion.

BREAKFAST?

That last chapter got me thinking. What is breakfast? Is my opinion good enough? I reached out to some friends to find out more.

First, I asked the man I love and live with in Minneapolis what breakfast is. He said, “the first meal of the day, of course.”

Then I asked the person sitting next to me, my producer on the job I’m working on. He said, “it’s the first meal of the day.” Then he talked a bunch about the amount of effort he puts into it, which is almost nothing, and how he wants it to be fast and healthy. But this all felt like it was said for my benefit, when the truth is that he believes breakfast is the first meal of the day.

Not a great start. But then someone said something that validated my position: breakfast includes coffee. Interesting. My best breakfast ALSO includes coffee.

I’m satisfied that my best breakfast is not only the best, but it is breakfast, and I hope you feel the same.

CONCLUSION

I look forward to continue this conversation, both with myself and with all curious persons, but I must tell you in advance that I cannot reverse or alter my position on Best Breakfast. I hope that you found this explanation illuminating. If not, I don’t want to hear about it. Thanks for stopping by, and do reach out with compliments and questions.