Least-cost breakfasts?

A six year old’s weekday breakfast in Paris

The least-cost diet exercise we just did in class is beautifully illustrated by the gorgeous NYT magazine article about kids’ breakfasts around the world [h/t to Amelia].

Amazing photos.  Who knew that breakfasts could be so colorful and varied?  And seeing all these examples side by side reveals a lot about food choice.

Clearly, price and income does matter, but so does tradition and the personality of each individual child and their family.

One big influence on food choice that’s nicely illustrated by these examples is the difference between weekend and weekday breakfasts.  The weekday breakfasts are really rushed, more like least-time meals than least-cost.

An eight-year old’s weekend feast in Istanbul

It turns out that meals are so much better when we have more time to prepare and eat them. Once people reach a high enough level of income to afford the nutrients we need, time allocation becomes as important as cash expenditure — and that tradeoff is especially visible at breakfast.

A lot of economists these days are very interested in how nutrition is influenced by our time use, with research on issues such as how mothers’ employment influences childhood obesity in the US, contributing to a global trend towards time-scarcity.

One of the biggest challenges in food policy is how to make food that not only nutritious, but also quick and convenient.  Any ideas?