But just cross the English Channel to France, where they will start their day with a bowl of coffee (hot chocolate for children) and fresh croissants. Across the border, in Germany, people eat bread rolls with selected cheese and cold meat-at least in this country: in cities, people may eat cornflakes. Some Germans living in cities eat what they call "French breakfast", that is, a cup of coffee and a cigarette (this is not a healthy start to the day). What do people in China have for breakfast? This is not a problem that may arise in ordinary cooking classes. Like dessert, we don't tend to associate breakfast with China cooking. The fact is that many westerners are unwilling to try. Although we think rice is a necessity on the table, in many places in China, this nutritious staple food is eaten three times a day, including breakfast. Nevertheless, there are more similarities between Chinese breakfast and western breakfast than they seem. Many people in China start their day with a bowl of hot porridge, which is a kind of thin rice porridge with obvious similarities to porridge. However, even the most loyal porridge fans may not be forced to eat this white thing day after day, and the various seasonings used to cook porridge ensure that porridge will never become boring. Porridge can be sweet or salty; Flavor everything from chicken to mushrooms. Usually, meat is preserved before adding rice. The word porridge (also called jook in Guangdong) comes from the Indian word "kanji" and refers to the water for cooking rice. In some parts of India today, the word porridge still refers to both boiled water and the ice tray itself. Kenneth Lo pointed out that porridge has two purposes in Chinese food-besides keeping warm, it can also replace drinks, because people in China usually don't serve cold drinks.