But what kinds of food constitute breakfast fare? It varies around the world from Lucky Charms in America to trahana in Albania.

In America, the typical breakfast food can range from pancakes and eggs to cold cereal or fruit. Cold cereal is a common item in many American households, but in other countries it is often not as ordinary.

In Romania, cold cereal is hard to find and when it is found it is usually imported from other countries such as Germany. Breakfast in general can be quite different.

“Most of the time they don’t really have it—they might have [just a] piece of bread,” said Travis Simon, a sophomore from Maple Valley, Wash., who served his mission in Romania.

Simon said that a common Romanian breakfast includes drinking tea and perhaps eating clatites (crepes) with jam.

In Mexico, breakfast foods can range from general items such as cereal, eggs and beans, to authentic recipes of chorico and machaca.

Francisco Solorzano, a freshman from Culiacan, Mexico, says that machaca is one of his favorite breakfasts.

First machaca – a type of meat – is dried in the sun, then cooked on a grill, chopped up in a blender and mixed with items such as eggs, onions or chili. On the other hand, “chorico is like sausage with a lot of chili,” Francisco said.

Mexicans also “drink a lot of soda — even with breakfast,” Solorzano said. One difference in nutritional consumption that Francisco has seen since coming to BYU-Idaho is that Americans tend to eat a lot more processed meals than Mexicans.

Albanian breakfast foods include trahana, which is similar to “oatmeal, but salty. You mix it with crumbled bread [then] you cook it and eat it with olive oil and feta cheese,” said Silva Stermilli, a senior from Durres, Albania.

Albanians also do not generally eat breakfast cereals, instead consuming a variety of fresh fruits, breads, butter, jam, milk, eggs and petulla (which is similar to scones) for breakfast.

For some countries, rice is a common staple in breakfast meals.

Blake Longmore, a freshman from Iona, Idaho, who served his mission in Indonesia, said that nasi pecel and gado gado are two of the main breakfast items for Indonesians. Nasi pecel is rice with a sauce similar to a spicy peanut sauce. Gado gado, meaning salad, is the same except instead of rice, vegetables are added and garnished with the sauce.

Another popular breakfast item is bubur. A rice porridge with different kinds of toppings like chicken or green beans (in Indonesia they are similar to peas) are added to it. Sweetened breakfast cereals are not common in Indonesia.

Longmore said that Indonesians usually do not eat a lot of sweet things. Milk, which is expensive there, is usually consumed at night with flavors added to it.

Sometimes foods that seem normal in one country are considered unusual in another.“A biscuit to me is a cookie to you,” said Rianne Montigue, a freshman from Southampton, England. American “biscuits and gravy” are confusing to her since a biscuit in England tends to be sweet like a cookie as opposed

to American biscuits that generally are unsweetened.

In England, a popular item is a “fried breakfast” which consists of fried bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs.

The serving size of the breakfast meal can also vary from country to country.

“Americans eat bigger breakfasts [and have] more of a variety. Other than fried [breakfasts] we choose one thing and just eat that,” Montigue said.