The Most Popular Breakfast Food From The Year You Were Born

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1977 — Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfast

Legendary.

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Some of these are weird.

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[hlthe2b]

1. Boy... if this isn't a time capsule of America's crappy diets...

But, I was pretty surprised to see cappuccino pop up as early as 1950... Maybe in NYC, but surely not in much of the country I'd guess.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Too don't feel too bad. Mine is fried woolly mammoth. NT

[hlthe2b]

5. Well, I'm no spring chick, but I perused the entire listing. 1950 was well before my time...LOL

still, does that not surprise anyone? I know my parents had likely never heard of a cappuccino in 1950, though maybe I'm not giving them enough credit.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. I'm pretty sure it was bacon and eggs.

This cappuccino (I had to copy the spelling from you, as I don't otherwise use the word) thing sounds unbelievable to me too.

[elleng]

9. Not for NYC Dad, that's for sure!

Coffee, milk, sugar, kaiser roll with butter.

[Croney]

3. Grumble--it starts at 1950.

Well in 1944 when I was born, breakfast was a bowl of grits and butter. Nobody put that cheese shit on it. You got your grits, your butter, your salt. Done.

Don't tell me about cheese in grits! And get off my lawn. (Just kidding)

[hlthe2b]

6. So, tell me... If you grew up somewhere other than urban NE, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle,

or Miami, had you ever heard of or were your family members drinking cappuccino for breakfast in 1950?

[Croney]

12. Ha! A poor Southern family was lucky to have coffee.

There were probably cappuccino-drinkers in Louisiana. Just not us.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. That's what I had for breakfast this morning.

I buy 5-pound sacks of Quaker instant grits (or maybe it's five-minute grits) at the Walmart. Please don't get on my case; I know that they're not the good stuff. Anyway, the local Walmart finally had two bags back on the shelf last week. Both the bags were torn, so they knocked a lot off the price. I am now back in grit greatness.

[Croney]

13. Nothing wrong with instant grits. I think they taste pretty much like the other.

[Jane Austin]

15. You and me both on the grumble.

We had bacon and eggs for a long time, and then Shredded Wheat.

[dweller]

4. it was for kids

but I didn't eat them the year I was born
🤔

✌🏼️

[shanny]

8. spiced ham....

ewwww

[happybird]

11. Carnation Breakfast Bars

Yuck. Those tasted like chocolate covered sawdust.

I didn't realize the best cereal in the world (Lucky Charms) came out in 1964.

[TygrBright]

14. Kind of a bad title, really.

I went through the list and I really doubt most of those things were "most popular". It's more of a timeline of how American breakfasts evolved as new foods were introduced or popularized by various things.

In that respect, it's pretty accurate, but I remember breakfasts pretty well from the 50s - 80s and I think there's serious grounds for dispute that (for example) Bisquick was the "most popular" breakfast food of the day. Cornflakes and toast basically ruled, with oj from frozen concentrate and the occasional fried egg.

Things like Pop-Tarts, various fads in cold cereals, the odd brief trend for particular instant hot cereals such as Maypo and Cream o' Wheat (which certainly wasn't new, but had a short vogue based on clever advertising in the early 60s), etc. Late 60s were the era of toaster waffles, toaster pastries, etc., and boxed supermarket breakfast pastries like Entenman's, etc. Eggs and breakfast meats and biscuits or hashbrowns never lost their appeal. Pancakes and French toast were popular "breakfast out" or "Sunday breakfast/brunch" options.

In the early 70s cottage cheese and yogurt with fruit were more common on the daily breakfast table, and quiche and eggs Benedict and those egg casserole brunchy things were faddy for Sundays and breakfast out.

I can pretty much guarantee you that chocolate milk was NOT "the most popular breakfast food" in 1983, though.

amusedly,
Bright

[sinkingfeeling]

16. Doesn't go back far enough. 1948 here.

[smirkymonkey]

17. I've never been a breakfast eater, except for coffee or tea or during certain

periods Diet Coke, Tab, Iced Coffee or Iced Tea. Probably why most of these things don't seem familiar to me.

[csziggy]

18. WTF? 1952 -- Pineapple Juice! No way!

But then, I lived in Florida where citrus was king and we owned orange groves. The big splurge were tangerines for Christmas. Our grandmother's neighbor had a huge tangerine tree and the weekend before Christmas we'd go pick a bunch of them to have for the holiday.

We'd also go to the family groves and picks boxes of oranges to ship to relatives in Alabama and Michigan. The best part of that is that our Alabama relatives would ship us boxes of shelled and picked pecans so Mom could make pecan pie for Christmas dinner dessert.

I never had pineapple juice until I moved away from home and never, ever regularly.

[Major Nikon]

19. Grits, cathead biscuits, hog jowls, pickled pigs feet

[sprinkleeninow]

27. My Baba made jellied pigs' feet. 😋

[yellowdogintexas]

20. 1948 so I don't count I guess

but I would assume bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy Maybe grits. Farm hands eat a big breakfast, and the nation was still fairly agrarian back then.

Oatmeal was big in our house, cream of wheat, and Ralston.

My dad never was a breakfast eater until he spent some time in the hospital and was given breakfast every day. After that, he never missed breakfast.

I love breakfast!!! It is really my favorite meal to eat 'out'; just sit back and bring on the coffee and no cleaning up afterwards.

Creamed Chipped Beef was a weekend favorite with my first husband. My mom only made it if my dad wasn't going to be home for supper because he would not touch it. Holdover from WW II Army; he hated evaporated milk too. He never developed an aversion to Spam for some strange reason.

[crazycatlady]

21. 1980-- cottage cheese

[backtoblue]

23. That's funny cuz I love cottage cheese!

Hiya my fellow 80 gal!

[ProudLib72]

22. Back in my day we ate gravel for breakfast

And we were glad to have it, too!

[Iggo]

24. They're wrong. It's bacon and eggs, every year.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

25. Agreed. From my observations since '47.

All home cooked and mostly locally sourced foods. Probably would add toast or biscuits, and some rotation of country sausage with the bacon.

My mom or grandma would rotate some days with either oatmeal, Cream of Wheat or rice with a little milk and sugar - for variety. Would also occasionally get Corn Flakes.

Extra-special breakfast treats in my youth were locally cured country ham (w/redeye gravy) or country bacon, and fresh cut corn cooked in a cast iron skillet with bacon drippings. We were lucky to get those a few times a year.

The items shown in that article are nothing but fad items for that year that few working American families even had access to - and probably would never buy if they did!

[MFM008]

26. Mine was pancakes

But my dad used to make us a hot cereal called
Ralston. Anyone have that?

[Freddie]

28. Drove mom nuts

Just not hungry 1st thing in AM and refused to eat anything before school. Weekends were junky kids cereal. The best was Cocoa Krispies (I think they still make this?), chocolatier than Cocoa Puffs.
Folks were both teachers. Dad loved sweet pastries and Mom would make herself “dippy eggs” (runny soft boiled eggs) and toast, washed down with instant coffee. Yuck.

[Guilded Lilly]

29. This was painfully spot on! Though I drew the NO WAY line at SPAM.