What Kids Around the World Are Waking Up To

Just as cultures around the world are as wonderfully varied from one country to another, so is their most important meal of the day. New York Times magazine features ‘Rise and Shine: What kids around the world eat for breakfast’ where photographer Hannah Whitaker sat down with children from seven countries as they prepare to eat their first meal of the day. Offering a glimpse of each culture’s preferred tastes, the article also offers an exploration on how training early taste buds make for more adventurous eaters.

For a related article, try Kids With Their Favorite Toys Around the World.

Saki Suzuki, 2 ¾ years old, Tokyo

White rice, miso soup, kabocha squash simmered in soy sauce and sweet sake (kabocha no nimono), pickled cucumber (Saki’s least favorite dish), rolled egg omelet (tamagoyaki) and grilled salmon.

Viv Bourdrez, 5 years old, Amsterdam

A glass of milk with bread, unsalted butter and sweet sprinkles called “hagelslag.”

Birta Gudrun Brynjarsdottir, 3 ½ years old, Reykjavik, Iceland

Oatmeal porridge called hafragrautur and lysi, or cod-liver oil. For part of the year, when the sun barely clears Iceland’s horizon, sunlight is a poor source of vitamin D — but the vitamin is plentiful in fish oils.

Oyku Ozarslan, 9 years old, Istanbul

Brown bread with green and black olives, Nutella spread, sliced tomato, hard-boiled egg, strawberry jam, butter soaked in honey and an assortment of Turkish cheeses.

Doga Gunce Gursoy, 8 years old, Istanbul

Honey and clotted cream, called kaymak, on toasted bread; green and black olives; fried eggs with a spicy sausage called sucuk; butter; hard-boiled eggs; thick grape syrup (pekmez) with tahini on top; an assortment of sheep-, goat- and cow-milk cheeses; quince and blackberry jams; pastries and bread; tomatoes, cucumbers, white radishes and other fresh vegetables; kahvaltilik biber salcasi, a paste made of grilled red peppers; hazelnut-flavored halvah, the dense dessert; milk and orange juice.

Emily Kathumba, 7 years old, Chitedze, Malawi

Cornmeal porridge called phala with soy and groundnut flour; deep-fried fritters made of cornmeal, onions, garlic and chiles, along with boiled sweet potato and pumpkin; and a dark red juice made from dried hibiscus flowers and sugar.

Phillip & Shelleen Kamtengo, both 4 years old, Chitedze, Malawi

Sweet, cornbread-like cake called chikondamoyo. Breakfast for the Kamtengo twins and their older siblings also includes boiled potatoes and black tea.

Nathanaël Witschi Picard, 6 years old, Paris

Kiwi; tartine, an open-faced baguette with butter and blackberry jam made by his grandparents; cold cereal with milk; and freshly squeezed orange juice.

Aricia Domenica Ferreira, 4 years old, and Hakim Jorge Ferreira Gomes, 2 years old, São Paulo, Brazil

Chocolate milk and little brother Hakim’s cup contains coffee (café com leite). For many Brazilian parents, coffee for kids is a cultural tradition; the taste evokes their own earliest memories. Also on the menu ham and cheese as well as pão com manteiga, bread with butter.

Tiago Bueno Young, 3 years old, São Paulo, Brazil

Cornflakes, banana cake and bisnaguinha, a sweet white bread popular with Brazilian children and served with a mild cream cheese called requeijão.

Koki Hayashi, 4 years old, Tokyo

Green peppers stir-fried with tiny dried fish, soy sauce and sesame seeds; raw egg mixed with soy sauce and poured over hot rice; kinpira, a dish of lotus and burdock roots and carrots sautéed with sesame-seed oil, soy sauce and a sweet rice wine called mirin; miso soup; grapes; sliced Asian pear; and milk.