Breakfast of Champions

I happen to like fish for breakfast. A little Ocean Perch revs up the morning for me! Many of my friends and family find this odd but I find fish to be an excellent breakfast food. I usually buy two pounds of the perch at a time; steaming half of it with some Old Bay seasoning to use in omelets and scrambled eggs. Then the other half I simply sear in a hot cast iron skillet to relish its flaky texture in every bite. I love fish anytime but fish for breakfast is nurturing for me.

The word ‘breakfast’ is a compound word which simply means, according to Webster, ‘to break fast.’ The fasting is done at night while we sleep. So, breakfast would be anything we consumed first. This discourse is not about the virtue of eating breakfast; although I did have the privilege of having two grandmothers that thought you would surely perish and the world would come to an end if you did not have a large breakfast. That’s another kettle of fish….

We are predisposed by the culture and tradition in which we are raised to find things acceptable; apparently, fish for breakfast in America falls outside that norm. There are exceptions, like me, of course. I bet you can find the camper/fisherman that relishes a freshly caught fish cooked over a camp fire beside a lake in the early morning. Sounds yummy to me! Makes me drool to even contemplate that!

Many cultures find this commonplace and would probably laugh at our American noses wrinkled at fish for breakfast. If you recall, fish for breakfast is Scriptural ….well, it is written IN scripture. Jesus, Himself, cooked fish for breakfast for the Disciples. Fishing for them was done overnight and Jesus greeted them in the morning with fish over a campfire on the beach. If it’s good enough for Jesus…….

We tend to get locked in to a routine of familiarity and anything outside that comfort zone is not for us. Sad, that! My husband asked for eggs this morning. I was happy to oblige his request. Before I could walk into the kitchen, he was saying he only wanted scrambled eggs with tortillas. This meant he wanted to make egg tacos. We were out of tortillas and this ruined the whole thing for him. He did not want eggs without taco potential.

But fish for breakfast? One morning I presented him with a plate that had scrambled eggs, tortillas, refried beans and steamed fish. The look on his face was priceless. Not wanting to be rude and hurt my feelings, he proceeded to eat...very slowly. This was common breakfast food for my King of Tacos; all but the fish, of course. I bet if I had fried the fish and smothered it in the dreaded ketchup he would have had a whole ‘nuther attitude! Let’s just say he will have to ease into accepting fish as the breakfast of champions.