MODERN LIFE can be a fast-paced haze offering little time for such luxuries as a full home-cooked breakfast.
The increasing tendency to resort to eating out for what is sometimes called the most important meal of the day is the subject of this week’s Street Beat.
At the popular eatery Burger King in Sky Mall we found James Browne tucking into a ready-made morning meal – something he said is a regular occurrence.
“Sometimes you have to move early from home and with the ‘hectic-ness’ of my home life, breakfast at home seems like a thing of the past,” he said.
“As a diabetic, I buy small meals that don’t send my blood sugar into a tailspin, which can get expensive but you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Leslie Browne said it was his first time as he usually ate at home but was already hungry again.
“I done eat breakfast since 5 a.m. and done hungry again so I just decide to get some hash browns here but I don’t really eat out; if anything, I would get coffee,” he said.
Kimberley Skeete said the team caught her at the time of the month she ate out.
“I don’t usually buy breakfast unless it is a pay week or the odd day I don’t turn on the stove as I have a child to prepare breakfast for,” she said. “Still, I remember going to Rubis in Kirtons a morning and was stunned at the line; I wondered if people don’t cook anymore – I couldn’t believe a line could be so long for eggs, bacon and pancakes.”
A woman who requested anonymity said it was her second time at Burger King but she usually bought breakfast for the convenience.
“For me, I don’t have to get up and make breakfast. If I do, then I would have to eat late because of my job, so this way I can take it with me and eat it on the way to work. I like the croissan’wiches here.”
At Sol Warrens, which was busy, Stacey Briggs-Saunders was eating her freshly bought breakfast, in her car. She said she preferred to make her own but sometimes she had no choice.
“I try to get up and make oats and barley, what is considered a healthy breakfast, but I live in St Michael and work in St Joseph and my daughter goes to Alexandra [in St Peter] so by the time I get up and have to get her breakfast and off to school, then I come here,” she said.
Briggs-Saunders said buying her morning meal was convenient and the price at Sol was good, though she wished they would include oats and cream of wheat.
Donahue Cole said unashamedly that mornings were for sleep so he tried to grab as much of it as he could before heading to work, picking up breakfast on the way. Even so, Cole said he was not a heavy eater and a hot beverage and a fishcake or two was usually enough for him for much of the day.
People were in such a rush that many of them could barely spare a few moments to speak to Street Beat but the story was usually the same – in a hurry, no time, work, got to go.
Things were slightly less hectic at Esso Holborn but this was only because their grill was under repair. Usually the breakfast menu was high on demand with people snapping up the eggs, hot dogs and pizza.
Emerson Bryan said he stopped by either for pizza or patties as he was Jamaican.
“I have to run early on mornings. I live in St Philip and if I stop home to make breakfast I’ll be late for work,” he said.
In addition to the many people rushing to work, there were also a few schoolchildren spotted. Leteisha Downes was with her young son Jayden. She said she usually made breakfast at home but Jayden loved doughnuts so she stopped to get him one on the way to school.
“I like to make eggs, fish nuggets, pancakes and hot dogs at home but I would buy the pizza here because it is so good. I guess people buy because they’re busy on mornings but I try to make time to eat,” she said.
carlosatwell@nationnews.com
