What A Typical Breakfast In Canada Looks Like

While Canada is part of the British Commonwealth, you wouldn't necessarily know it at breakfast time. For one thing, Canadians tend to prefer coffee to tea. Fewer than one-third of Canadians prefer the latter beverage, while more than half are fond of the more bitter brew. In the U.K., however, though coffee may be making headway, tea is still most Britons' beverage of choice. For another, a full English or full Scottish breakfast may include such foods as tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, and blood pudding in addition to bacon, sausages, and eggs. A full Canadian breakfast, on the other hand, is pretty similar to the kind we know and love south of the 49th parallel.

A really hearty breakfast, Canadian-style, may consist of bacon and/or sausages with eggs, toast, and pancakes. This is not an everyday thing for most people, of course, as its nickname implies: It's known as a lumberjack or trucker breakfast, with the implication being that this massive pile of food is the kind of thing you'd work up an appetite for only after (or to prepare for) a stint of hard labor. Lighter options for everyday breakfasts in Canada include cereal, oatmeal, or doughnuts and coffee from Timmies.

When it comes to total area, Canada is quite a bit larger than the United States, so it stands to reason that there would be significant regional differences across the country. Those differences extend to their breakfast preferences, as well. While people tend to refer to Candian bacon as one particular thing, in reality, the varieties across the country are many. In the Yukon, they have their own kind of bacon, which resembles Irish bacon in style, while in Ontario they like peameal bacon, which is dipped in cornmeal before frying. In Labrador and Newfoundland, bacon comes in the form of scruncheons, which are tiny bites of fried bacon rind that are often used to accompany the fried bread dough pancakes known as toutons.

In Alberta, they're all about cereal, but not just any kind. Instead, they're passionate about a hometown brand of hot cereal called Sunny Boy that's made of locally-grown flax, rye, and wheat. The heartiest breakfast of all may be the one enjoyed by the Quebecois. A full Quebec consists of beans, eggs, sausages, pancakes with maple syrup, and the pork paté known as cretons. The most indulgent of morning meals, however, likely belongs to tiny Prince Edward Island. Lobster fishing is big there, so this pricey crustacean is a starring ingredient in lobster Benedicts and omelets dished up at restaurants all over the island.