Earlier today, we published a review of the controversial (and delicious) new Everything Bagel flavor from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. Everything Bagel, which is very, very bagel-y indeed, is billed by Jeni’s as ice cream suited for “any time of day,” including breakfast. Coincidentally, National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day is coming up on Saturday, February 6. This got us wondering: should certain foods be restricted to certain times of day? Is ice cream, or other food, best consumed after dark?
Personally, I think life’s too short to restrict ice cream habits, but my coworkers do have some designated nighttime foods. Takeout editor-in-chief Marnie Shure has what she describes as “a weirdly long list of nighttime-only foods” like pizza, which she only eats after sundown. My fellow staff writer Allison Robicelli hates eggs at breakfast and lunch, but loves eating them after dark. I can’t do poultry for breakfast, but other than that I live life pretty free and easy. What about you? Do you have designated daytime/nighttime foods, or do you live life on the wild side? Please discuss.
DISCUSSION
Echoing my sentiments from earlier today, who the fuck decided National Ice Cream Day should be in the dead of fucking winter?
You know what happened in Boston on February 6? The Blizzard of ‘78.
Ahem...now that I’ve gotten that out of my system...wait. You know what else happened on February 6? The first minstrel show in American history, in 1843, at the Bowery Theatre in New York. Also the birth of Eva Braun, in 1912. (h/t Wikipedia)
OK, it’s not all doom and gloom, it’s also the day Thurl Ravenscroft was born in 1914, which is pretty g-r-r-r-reat!
Now then. To answer the question you actually asked.
The short answer is that while I don’t have any kind of genuine strict rule about “oh no, it’s light out, can’t eat that”, I swear McDonald’s, grabbed as takeout or delivered, tastes best at 3 in the morning. There’s just something about the witching hours that only the Golden Arches can satisfy culinarily speaking. I’ve always been something of an insomniac (more correctly, a sufferer of severe Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome; my natural circadian rhythm involves sleeping from 6 AM to 2 PM, which is a profound annoyance in my professional life and a strong reason why I’ve been a heavy stimulant user since the age of 11), so my early adult years are full of memories of friends, late nights, and “you hungry? Let’s go get some munchies” moments.