A hearty breakfast is the way to start the day, right? Maybe not so much any longer, because breakfast foods seem to be leaking into lunch and even dinner times these days. Perhaps you sleep late or work through the traditional breakfast time, but not to worry — food purveyors have your back. According to an article from the American Egg Board (we admit, perhaps a slightly biased source), at chains such as McDonald's, White Castle and Golden Corral you can get breakfast foods all day.
What's going on, you may ask? Well, these chains and other restaurants are responding to consumer preferences. A National Restaurant Association survey found that 72 percent of adults want to be able to get breakfast foods all day. Yet another survey found that the percentage of consumers who wanted to get breakfast foods at non-traditional times rose by more than 12 percent between 2013 and 2015.
So, is this an important trend? Sure - for restaurants that might have to revamp their orders to suppliers and the space allocated for storage of some items, but nutritionally speaking no, it doesn't make much difference when you eat what, as long you get in the required nutrients for optimal health. Yes, there have been some who claim that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" (meaning a traditional start to the day), but that hasn't really been shown to be true (as we explained here). That doesn't mean that school children don't need a decent meal before trudging off to class — it just doesn't have to be eggs or cereal.
So if you want to eat a salad or a slice of last night's pizza at 7 a.m., and a breakfast burrito at 7 p.m., enjoy.
