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Kim-Chi or Vegemite for Breakfast?

By Jennifer Henderson

 MELBOURNE -   It’s a long-held axiom that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and immigrants to Australia also are accepting the additional advice of health experts that, just as important as when you eat,  is the question of what you eat.

 
Before she left Korea to settle in Australia, Jung- Hee started the day with a warm traditional breakfast -- Kim-Chi (pickled vegetables), with  meat side dishes and rice.
 
These days Jung-Hee and her two children prefer a western breakfast, one that can be quickly prepared in the rushed hours before school. “My children don’t like a heavy breakfast every morning, so we just have toast”, she says.
 
Jung-Hee’s story is similar that of other ethnic communities in Australia, who must decide whether to continue eating the traditional breakfast of their culture when they start the day, or learn to love vegemite on toast.
 
Japanese-Australian Saori Daldon says  the traditional breakfasts of her homeland are becoming less and less popular -- both in Japan and Australia.
 
 “Some Japanese now prefer a western breakfast because it’s easier to prepare and young people also prefer western style”.
 
 Before coming to Australia, Saori ate traditional breakfasts only on special occasions because of the trend towards western breakfasts.
 
Spokesperson for the Dietician Association of Australia, Lisa Renn, says there could be a cost health wise.
 
“Australian diets generally speaking do not include vegetables in the breakfast”.
 
Renn says women of all cultures tend to skip breakfast due to a busy lifestyle or family.
 
 “Women don’t prioritise their own health and time important for them but also important as a role model…if they’ve got kids, to be sitting down and showing the kids that its important to stop and eat and have breakfast”.
 
Celebrity Asian cuisine expert and chef, Charmaine Solomon, says that even in other cultures breakfast is still regarded as the most important meal of the day.
 
“It’s important because everyone starts their days work and they need nourishment before they go and do that…recently there’s been far more emphasis on getting a good breakfast and sending children off to school with something sustaining in their stomachs. We don’t have time here to make “hoppers”…very often its out of a packet” she says.
 
The Sri Lankan-born Solomon, author of many books on various Asian cuisines,   recalls that, when she was growing up, she ate  ‘hoppers’ at most breakfasts. Hoppers are a simple rice flour pancake that can be made thick and soft or thin and crispy.
 
Due to the amount of time needed to make traditional hoppers, Solomon often reverts back to a western breakfast of cereal.
 
 “I try to make sure it’s a wholegrain cereal not that sugary stuff that lines supermarket shelves”, she said.
 
Most Middle Eastern and Mediterranean breakfasts consist of a hot drink, such as coffee and tea, followed by a sweet biscuit or some bread with cheese.
 
 According to dieticians, these breakfasts are often higher in fat and sugar and don’t have the necessary carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
 
And, although some traditional breakfasts are definitely less healthy, women of a different culture living in Australia should only modify their diet, not change it, warns Elizabeth Gasparini, a dietician at the Royal Women’s Hospital.
 
 “I believe that it’s silly to tell somebody who’s coming from an Asian culture to eat cereal, milk and toast for breakfast because they’ are foods they would not normally eat -- and may not even tolerate. Many Asians are lactose intolerant, so they don’t drink milk”.
 
Gasparini recommends following a simple formula that can be applied to any culture to achieve a healthy breakfast:
. One serve of lean protein (low fat milk or eggs); one serve of carbohydrates (toast, bread, rice or cereal) and one serve of vitamins and minerals (vegetables or fruit).
 
 So all Australians have the choice of a healthy breakfast: either cereal, low fat milk and fruit - western style - or it can be a traditional cultural meal like that of the Middle East with pita bread cheese and salad, she says.