Power breakfast: how the first meal of the day sustained, supported and strengthened royals and leaders
Across dynasties, monasteries and ministries, morning meals have served as cultural markers, expressing authority, virtue and worldview through porridge, soup or even tea. Long before social media made brunch performative, history shows us how emperors, monks and statesmen understood the soft power of the first bite.
Breakfasts are metaphors for harmony, discipline, abundance or restraint. They speak in symbols: one soup, three dishes; one bowl, infinite meaning. To partake in these breakfast traditions today is to taste philosophies older than most nations.
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Japan’s ichiju‑sansai
At the Japanese imperial court, breakfast is a quiet masterclass in diplomacy. Known as ichiju-sansai, or “one soup, three sides”, the meal is a harmonious composition of rice, miso soup, grilled fish, a rolled omelette and seasonal vegetables. It traces its lineage in part to yusoku ryori, the refined cuisine of the Heian aristocracy, later formalised in Edo-era samurai households.
This elegance is intentional. Presented in lacquerware on low trays, this breakfast reflects Japan’s national identity and preference for order and balance. When visiting dignitaries are served this set at state events, the message is clear: simplicity can be powerful, and taste can be diplomacy.
Korea’s temple porridge
In Korean monastic life, the morning begins not with fanfare but with juk, a porridge of rice or grains. It’s sometimes made with beans, but never with garlic or onions. Consumed by monks in temples like Beomeosa or Guinsa, it’s austere, designed for spiritual clarity and digestion before meditation.
Yet the story of juk doesn’t stop at the monastery gates. During the Joseon Dynasty, palace kitchens were often staffed by women trained in Buddhist cooking. Over time, royal and monastic recipes cross-pollinated, producing a breakfast culture rich in Confucian values, but rooted in restraint. Today, visitors of temple stays enjoy this same porridge in silence, seated on floor mats, embodying a tradition where food and focus are one.
See more: Gruel that rules: Why porridge is Asia’s most enduring, evolving comfort food
Tibet’s tsampa
In Tibet, tsampa is made from roasted barley flour and hot butter tea. (Photo: Eugene Nelmin / Unsplash)
High in the Himalayas, breakfast is practical magic. At monasteries like Tashi Lhunpo in Shigatse, monks begin the day with tsampa, roasted barley flour kneaded with hot butter tea into dense dough. It’s eaten quickly, often standing, with ritualistic efficiency.
But tsampa is more than a mountaintop energy bar. For Tibetans, it symbolises endurance, self-reliance and communion with nature. Po cha (the butter tea itself), made with yak milk and salt, fortifies the body for meditation and cold. It’s not refined, but it’s resilient—and that, too, is a kind of power.
India’s stews for sultans and porridge for monks
In the royal courts of Awadh, Hyderabad and Rajasthan, breakfast was a luxurious affair. Nihari, a slow-simmered stew of spiced meat and marrow, was served at dawn to maharajas and nawabs. Accompanied by saffron milk, dried fruits and flaky sheermal bread, these breakfasts projected opulence anchored in Ayurveda.
But breakfast in India is a multiverse. In Kerala’s monastic ashrams, you’ll find kanji, or rice porridge, seasoned only with cumin and coconut. In modern ministries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly favours Ayurvedic porridge and methi thepla, which is a statement on wellness and nationalism. The grammar of the meal changes by caste, class and climate, but the principle remains: breakfast reflects your dharma.
Myanmar’s mohinga
The comforting, hearty mohinga is the unofficial national breakfast of Myanmar (Photo: Lucy Ken/Pixabay)
Mohinga refers to rice noodles in a lemongrass-laced fish broth. It isn’t palace food exactly, but it is power food. It’s Myanmar’s unofficial national breakfast, served by street vendors at dawn and devoured by the locals. Thickened with chickpea flour, topped with banana stem, fried fritters and boiled egg, mohinga is hearty, herbal and omnipresent.
It’s also political. Leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi and former generals have used mohinga photo-ops to signal populism. The dish’s roots stretch back to pre-colonial times, but today it is a unifier, poured from tin pots into bowls of soft power.
Singapore’s minimalist breakfast
For Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, breakfast was an extension of policy. For decades, he ate a minimalist meal: soft douhua, or soy curd, without syrup, sometimes accompanied by toast and kaya, washed down with room-temperature water; he did not take tea or coffee with breakfast. This austere meal was delivered in a tiffin box each morning.
It was a message. According to longtime aides, Lee viewed food the way he viewed governance: efficient, restrained, rooted in tradition but not indulgent. It was a monk-like breakfast for a man who built a modern city-state, and in its modesty, a legacy.
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