An American Breakfast

An American Breakfast 

Lena Viersen 

An American meal traditionally consists of pancakes or waffles, scrambled or sunny-side up eggs, savory bacon, and some sweet fruit. The delicious meal is a staple in most restaurants, with maybe some altercations, and can be prepared by many at home. Most Americans will eat all, if not one, of these at breakfast, and don't think twice, but none of these things would be eaten without the crucial Colombian Exchange. 

The meal above consists of Pancakes, eggs, bacon, kiwi, and grapes. The most basic recipe of a pancake consists of eggs, flour, sugar, and butter. Flour is made from wheat, which Columbus brought from Europe on his later voyages, along with barley and rye. Creamy and smooth butter wouldn't be possible without cows milk, and cows were brought from Europe. Eggs in the pancakes and the salty eggs on the plate are both products of chickens, which originated in southeast Asia, and were brought to the Americas. Pigs were not native to the Americas, and originated from the domestic stock brought to the Americas by European settlers. Without pigs, the crispy and salty bacon that's well loved wouldn't be possible. The juicy grape that adds the perfect sweetness to the meal was brought by the Spanish and used for mostly wine production, but now is eaten in large amounts. It faired well in Peru and Chile, but not many other places. 

The "American" breakfast meal is all thanks to the Europeans. Without the Colombian Exchange, and the trade of food between America and Europe, the sweet and savory combination of pancakes and fruit with the salty eggs and bacon wouldn't have been able to be created and become the perfect balance to eat in the morning. Whatever small alterations are made to the meal have no effect on the well-loved meal and it's desire to be eaten.