Breakfast Addiction

We all suffer from one addiction or another.  Drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, compulsive eating, gambling are just a few of the more common addictions.  I suffer from a relatively rare disorder—I have to eat breakfast out.  Now I realize that this behavior will probably not result in reduced longevity, but it is an addiction nevertheless.

I have had this addiction for several decades now. When I lived back East I would head to a diner practically every morning for my first, second, and third cups of coffee, and whatever I enjoyed washing down with all that caffeine. Now that I live here in Malibu, I have cut down on my breakfasts out, but still manage at least two morning splurges a week.

I have eaten breakfast at The Malibu Inn, The Plate, Coogie’s, Marmalade, and most frequently at Paradise Cove.  I am not talking brunch, but breakfast. If you read my column regularly, you already know what I think of brunch—not much.

So why do I call eating breakfast out an addiction rather than merely a habit. The reason is simple—I have to do it.  I cannot control myself.  Many a morning I promise myself that I will eat breakfast home like a normal human being.  I have all the makings either in the refrigerator or in the pantry.  And then, by some magnetic force I cannot adequately describe, I find myself in my car, and the car without any help from me drives to a nearby restaurant for breakfast.

This addiction is costly when you start to tabulate all those breakfast receipts.  I probably spend more on breakfasts a year than it cost my parents to send me to Harvard for a year.  Of course, that was a long time ago before Christ was born. The fact is I enjoy breakfast more than I ever enjoyed college, so it looks like I am getting my money’s worth. I guess if you have to have an addiction, you could do worse than eating breakfast out. Just imagine having to eat at Nobu every night.