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Is Breakfast in Danger of Becoming a Thing?

Can something as simple as breakfast really be trending? Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine

Nothing ruins food faster than watching it become overhyped. Like having a favorite band discovered by the masses, a torrent of unearned hype around a restaurant, or a dish, can turn the public’s opinion against it too quickly. (Just ask all the people who opened frozen-yogurt shops a few years back.) But is it possible for an entire meal to become overhyped?

In fact, it might already be happening to breakfast. We know it’s the most important meal of the day. But it’s also now almost certainly the most Instagrammed. Egg sandwiches. Grain bowls with avocado slices and hibiscus buds (or whatever). Golden waffles. Stacks upon stacks of syrup-kissed pancakes. Has it all become too much?

This is, at least in part, the topic of discussion on the latest episode of the Grub Street podcast, wherein Grub editor Alan Sytsma and New York restaurant critic Adam Platt tackle the internet’s potential to overhype everything — even a meal. Check out the excerpt that follows, then listen to the whole episode below or download it on iTunes.

Adam Platt: In the age of the internet, everything is hyped. Everything is overrated.

Alan Sytsma: Breakfast was around long before the internet.

A.P.: Whatever. Everything was around long before the internet, but the internet’s covered it. There’s this patina of gaseous hype.

A.S.: Around breakfast?!

A.P.: We’ve talked about this on this website. What are we on? On this podcast. The burger. The chicken sandwich. The sandwich. The conveyor belt of hype just keeps going along. This endless maw of appetite for the latest thing, which happens to be something we’ve all known about. Everybody knows a burger is good! I don’t need this craziness around the burger! Anyway. Now it’s breakfast’s turn. Breakfast, oh breakfast. It’s so good.

A.S.: Who’s doing that about breakfast?

A.P.: Everybody! I love my breakfast! The … you know. Eggs just this way. I like my eggs. I do my waffles. The biscuits! Blah, blah, blah.
Has Breakfast Become Too Trendy?