Welcome to Spotlight.
I’m Ryan Geertsma.
And I’m Robin Basselin.
Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Every morning, John does many of the same things.
First, he gets out of bed and cleans up.
After that, he sits down at the table and reads the morning news.
As he reads, he eats his breakfast - the first meal of the day.
He eats bread, two cooked eggs and coffee.
Then he leaves for his job.
Izumi’s morning is very similar to John’s.
But her breakfast looks very different.
She eats cooked white rice, hot, good tasting liquid called soup, and some vegetables.
People in every country eat morning meals.
But these meals can be very different.
Today’s Spotlight is on breakfast around the world.
The word breakfast is a combination of two other English words: “break” and “fast.”
“Fast,” in this way, means going without food or eating.
So when you get up from sleeping, you break, or end, your fast.
You were not eating during the night and now you are.
The Mayo Clinic is a respected hospital in the United States.
Doctors there say something about breakfast.
They say that a healthy breakfast helps give people more energy for the day.
If people do not have breakfast, they will get tired sooner.
They will have trouble concentrating on their work.
In fact, many doctors and experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the
day.
Patty Beckwith is a doctor who helps people with eating healthy meals.
She told the University of California at Los Angeles health website:
“A healthy breakfast may seem hard, but it is not.
Bread with peanut butter and some orange juice, or half a piece of fruit will do it.”
Breakfast is also good for your health.
If you eat in the morning, you may eat less at the other meals in the day.
This is because you are not as hungry.
Because of this, eating breakfast helps you weigh less.
And eating breakfast every day can even lower a person’s chance of having heart problems!
But what is a healthy breakfast?
Experts and doctors around the world agree that a healthy breakfast contains four different
foods.
First, it should contain grains.
In most places, this is some kind of bread or rice.
Second, a protein that is low in fat.
In many countries, this is an egg, fish or some meat.
Third, a healthy breakfast needs some dairy - or milk products.
Milk contains calcium, an element which helps make bones stronger.
However, in some countries like Japan, they do not drink a lot of milk.
Instead, they have soy plants and other foods that have the same elements.
And last, it is important to have a fruit or a vegetable in your breakfast.
This will help give you energy for the day.
Most countries have their own breakfast traditions.
For example, John’s breakfast, from the beginning of this program, is a common breakfast
in the United States.
It contained bread, eggs, and coffee.
Izumi’s breakfast is traditional in Japan.
It included white rice and miso soup.
Miso soup is a liquid made from potatoes and vegetables.
Izumi also ate pickles, made from specially treated vegetables.
This is very similar to other meals in the day.
In Asia, breakfast does not usually mean eating different food than other meals.
European countries have their own breakfast traditions too!
In Italy, people usually just eat bread and coffee.
In Germany, people eat different cold meats and special bread rolls.
And an “English breakfast” means eggs, salted meat, vegetables or fruit, and bread.
It also includes cooked beans.
They are large seeds, cooked in a thick, smooth tomato sauce.
It is a very large meal.
In Africa, breakfast is very different across the continent.
What people have for breakfast changes a lot even within the same country.
In Nigeria, for example, many different tribes eat different foods for breakfast.
One common thing that appears is ground beans.
In parts of Nigeria, people take beans and smash them up into a rubbery paste.
Then they make a round cake from the bean paste and cook it in oil.
This “kosai” breakfast is made by the Hausa tribe in Northern Nigeria.
In other parts of Africa such as Senegal, people drink coffee.
They also eat bread with peanut butter or chocolate on it, along with fresh fruit.
In the Americas, the breakfast meal is different too.
Costa Rica is in Central America.
There, people have a meal call gallo pinto for breakfast.
Gallo Pinto is Spanish for “spotted rooster,” but the breakfast food is not a rooster or
a chicken!
Gallo Pinto is just rice and beans.
It also uses a special liquid called Lizano Sauce.
This sauce was created in the 1930s by the Lizano company.
It is a special part of the Costa Rican breakfast.
People eat different versions of this same food in other Central American countries.
On Facebook, we asked listeners what they eat for breakfast in their countries.
There were a lot of different answers!
One listener said:
“In Turkey, we have many breads, sweet jams and honey and vegetables and fruits.
We eat omelettes made from eggs.
So many people like eggs with tomato fruit, called menemen.
I think everyone should have it!”
Another listener from Taiwan said:
“I always eat noodle soup, but my parents eat rice soup and salty food every day.”
One listener from Albania in Eastern Europe said:
“We have many good meals with lamb and yogurt - a thick food made from milk.
We also have many different foods made from bread with meat and vegetables.
Also, we have many sweet treats, like baklava!
And in my city, the traditional dessert “ballokume,” made with corn, egg, and sugar.
It is very tasty and we are proud because it is known all over Albania!”
And another listener, from Saudi Arabia, told us that his breakfast is usually a glass of
water with honey and milk, and dates.
Dates are a small, sweet fruit that grows on palm trees.
Each country has a different breakfast, but all of them find ways to eat the things that
will be healthy for them.
What do you eat for breakfast in your country?
How do you stay healthy with your breakfast meal?
You can write your comments on the script page of this program.
The writer of this program was Dianna Anderson.
The producer was Ryan Geertsma.
The voices you heard were from the United States.
All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight.
You can listen to this program again, and read it on the internet at www.radioenglish.net.
This program is called, “Breakfast: The First Meal.”