My grandfather’s Eastern European breakfast was simple. We can learn a lot from how he ate

I never met my maternal grandfather. He emigrated from Poland to New York City for a position with

The Forward, a Yiddish newspaper. So when I saw that The Forward was offering a webinar on what our great grandparents ate for breakfast in Eastern Europe I signed right up.

Here are a few things I learned:

My ancestors’ breakfast was a simple meal. A typical breakfast was dark crusty bread with butter. One presenter suggested that spreading the butter to the very edges of the bread was a way for a parent to show love. Another common breakfast was a porridge made with millet or buckwheat groats.

And a favorite beverage in Eastern Europe was brown milk. Leaving boiled milk in an oven overnight causes a reaction between the milk’s protein and sugars. The result is a brownish liquid with a sweet caramel flavor. This process also kills bacteria and enzymes, which would be a plus when refrigeration is limited.

My ancestors drank a lot of tea. It was common to hold a sugar cube between the front teeth so the tea would be sweetened passing through the sugar. That seems like a lot more trouble than stirring a teaspoon into the cup.

Breakfast is the first meal of the day, not a specific food. That said, the most common breakfast foods are eggs, cereal, toast, oatmeal, bacon, sausage, fruit and yogurt. Nutritious dinner leftovers are also a good choice.

Breakfast is the opportunity to refuel the body after a night of sleep. I always suggest a meal with a mix of nutrients — protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. Dark crusty bread, butter and brown milk fits that description. A study of 30,000 adults, published in 2021, showed that people who skipped breakfast often fell short on their intake of folate, calcium, iron, vitamin A and B vitamins.

Steer clear of the empty calories for your first meal of the day. I’m talking to you, donuts!

Sheah Rarback MS, RDN is a registered dietitian nutritionist in private practice in Miami. srarback@hotmail.com

Miami Herald file Dark crusty bread with butter, such as these loaves from Zak the Baker in Miami, are most likely what Sheah Rarback's Jewish grandfather ate in Poland. It's a healthy way to start the day, she writes.