While visiting cousin Phil, we breakfasted like royalty: caramelized cabbage, black bean cucumber salad, eggs or pork chops, kefir or yogurt and toast. He eats this every morning! If you’re skeptical about daily cabbage, keep an open mind: cooking and eating it this way didn’t have that boiled-cabbage stink, and we digested it without issue.

Phil doesn’t want to follow his family trend toward diabetes, so he revamped what and when he eats a year ago. He eats his largest meal in the morning (like a king), a lighter lunch (like a prince) and even lighter evening meal (like a peasant). And particularly low carbs in the morning.

I’ve heard this folk wisdom before and decided to read more about it. Turns out the original quote “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper,” is from Adelle Davis, a highly popular though controversial American nutritionist. She didn’t actually mean that our meals should start big and get smaller, but more precisely that we should have our most protein-dense meal in the morning. It could end up being the most calories, too, but that wasn’t her primary advice. She even mentions that someone working a non-traditional “day” should eat their highest protein meal before going to work, regardless of the time of day.

I expect Davis would be delighted with Health & Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s revised food pyramid, which has been turned upside-down, so it looks like it’s about to tip over. Davis shares his preference for whole foods, high protein, low carbs, low sugar, etc. I do, too! So it’s been a constant frustration to hear valid criticisms of our over-processed foods without any true support for sustainable agriculture. Big agricultural operations got a $10 billion bump in subsidies under this administration, while small farms that actually feed people (not cars and factory-farmed animals) lost a billion.

I grew up mostly vegetarian and was vegan for years, too. I was suspicious of U.S. Americans’ obsession with protein, but now that I’m in middle age, I notice how much better I feel if I pay attention to protein. I’m disgusted that our new dietary guidelines basically reject plant-based protein and only celebrate meat. This is unhealthy for humans and doubles down on the devastating factory farming of non-human creatures. At a time when most U.S. Americans are financially stressed, telling them to eat more beef will have many people reaching for the cheapest options, which are not healthy for us, our planet, the cows or the people working with them.

We hear Jesus’ call to do unto others as we would have them do unto us and to care for the least of these among us. What might Jesus’ food pyramid contain?

What’s your favorite way to get protein that is gentle on the planet and other creatures? I love tofu, black beans, eggs and peanut butter. Check out cousin Phil’s royal breakfast and enjoy a hearty and gentle breakfast.

Caramelized cabbage

 The recipe is for two, but it can easily be adapted for taste and enlarged for a crowd.

• 2 cups cabbage, chopped to your preference or ~2” pieces
• 2 cloves garlic (or more or less, to taste)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon black pepper (or more, to taste)
• salt to taste
• With a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter with olive oil, and then add cabbage. If you’re making a larger recipe, use a very large skillet or cook in batches. Caramelizing requires the cabbage to be mostly touching the skillet, not resting on other cabbage. You may not need to stir for 5-10 minutes. Start stirring when cabbage begins to brown, and then stir frequently.

2.  If the skillet gets too dry, add either water, oil, butter, vinegar, sherry or broth to your own preference.

3. Add black pepper as you stir, more than you think you should, and taste as you go. Add the salt and check the taste again.

4. You might cook for 30 or even 40 minutes, but while you’re occasionally stirring the cabbage, you can prep the rest of your royal breakfast.

Bean salad 

Recipe is for two, but can easily be adapted for taste and enlarged for a crowd.

• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 1 cucumber
• 1 tomato or handful of cherry tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon oil
• Pinch of  salt and pepper

1. Slice the cucumber into one-inch pieces. Halve cherry tomatoes or chop tomato. Mix everything together.
2. Then cook an egg or two per person in your preferred method, and enjoy a filling, nutritious breakfast that gets your day off to a great start. You can discuss supper vs. dinner as you eat. What did you grow up calling the final meal of the day?

I grew up with breakfast, lunch and supper. We only had “dinner” on a holiday, and it could be anytime between noon and 6 p.m., and it always meant a large and leisurely meal. Once in a while I get a bemused reaction when I say “supper” – the same reaction as when I say “pop” to mean “soda.” I’m not ashamed of growing up in the country and don’t mind if people think I sound funny.

It does have everything to do with country and city, though. When people work on farms they naturally eat like Davis recommends: largest and heaviest meal in the morning, then breaking for another solid meal midday to go back out and keep working hard. The evening meal is typically the lightest.

When people started working away from home at an office or factory, they didn’t have time or opportunity to come home for lunch. So that midday meal was lighter and quicker, and their largest meal was in the evening, when the family reconnected and relaxed together. That became dinner, while farmers were eating a lighter supper. 

Whatever you want to call it, there is a 2013 report that suggests larger breakfasts and much lighter evening meals resulted in more weight loss for women trying to lose weight. If weight loss isn’t on your to-do list, sleeping better might be. Heavy evening meals or any late snacks tend to disrupt deep sleep.

This year I intend to follow cousin Phil’s strategy and see what happens if I breakfast like a queen, lunch like a pastor and supper like a pauper. Cabbage – cheap and nutritious – will feature heavily on the menu.