What Breakfast Looked Like A Century Ago In America

Breakfast has changed a lot throughout the years, both in the way it is made and what dishes are popular. The 2020s have seen an increase in air fryer breakfast foods rather than cooking on the stove. Meanwhile, classic dishes have undergone a variety of unique variations and upgrades, as is the case with apple-cinnamon slow cooker steel-cut oatmeal.

These shifts over time often come about based on much more than just the whims of the public. While breakfast nowadays tends to focus more on DIY, nourishment, and nutrition (with plenty of room for homemade Pop-Tarts), a century ago, breakfast leaned more towards convenience and lighter fare. Meals consisting of eggs, toast, and cereal were popular breakfast options during the 20th century.

A lot of what made breakfast different a century ago was the overall mindset towards the meal. People needed something quick, caring less about the actual flavor or contents of the meal itself. Other than cereal, foods like bread, oatmeal, or porridge were the breakfast of choice for many — with little to no flair about it.

Many of us cannot imagine a world where cereal isn't a commonplace breakfast item. But a century ago, it was quite a newfangled concept. In fact, the invention of cereal didn't come about until 1900. Although it was a new product on the market, it became popular almost immediately with many companies opening up in the course of just a few years.

At restaurants, breakfast was extremely light, including bread or a roll of some kind with fruit, coffee, or juice. Larger breakfast meals might have included cornmeal, whole wheat pancakes, and muffins with marmalade. Heartier meals like these were typically consumed by those who had more laborious jobs, while extremely light breakfasts tended to be more popular amongst those with white collar, lower stress jobs.

Employment and class further influenced what breakfast looked like as manufacturing continued to increase throughout the country, particularly in regard to food processing. Additionally, immigrants began to flock to the country, bringing their respective cuisines with them. European pastries, huevos rancheros, and bagels with lox initially got their foothold as breakfast items during this time period — with many of these dishes retaining their popularity today.