What I thought I was looking for...

How do different generations in Taipei and Tainan define a "real breakfast" culture, and how are those changing?

My starting inquiry

I arrived in Taiwan with a simple question:

What counts as an authentic Taiwanese Breakfast(早餐)?

How has real Taiwanese breakfast （早餐） changed?

Because 早餐 isn't just food, it's a daily ritual. I assumed it would reveal what Taiwan values in everyday life.

I expected the answer to be visible in who was eating and how they moved.

My observations from the field sites were portraying a different narrative and my assumptions felt forced

Click on the images to read the Chinese-English captions.

Authentic = Slow Mornings
- I associated "real 早餐" with time, quiet and ease.
Authentic = Family 早餐
- I expected the most meaningful breakfast to be a shared household moment.
Authentic = Family Preparing Breakfast （家人准备早餐）
- I pictured the kitchen as the centre of cultural continuity.

"If 早餐 is truly authentic, I should be able to see togetherness in it" (was what I thought)

At this point, I was using my own cultural logic as the measure of "authenticity"

Authentic 早餐 = slow + homemade + family-centered

The first shift in my inquiry didn't come from a reading- it came from realising I was misreading what I was seeing.