If you’re a fan of the typical savory Pinoy breakfast, it should not be challenging to incorporate fermented foods into your daily almusal. Here are a few easy ideas to add ferments to breakfasts that we have learned along the way.

Why add buro to breakfast?

• The standard Filipino breakfast fare is all too often meat- or animal-protein centric. Adding lacto fermented foods lets you add fiber that provides the body with a host of health benefits, such as lowering the risk of many chronic diseases.    
• Lacto-fermented vegetables are also prebiotic foods that feed our friendly gut bacteria, which work to reduce inflammation, and enhance our immunity.
• Ferments are not silver bullets. It’s the consistent consumption of these good bacteria that allows them to eventually colonize your gut, alter its microbial diversity, and confer their benefits. So make a moderate amount of ferments a daily habit–breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Amp up your almusal

1. Use fermented vegetables as atchara or sawsawan substitute.

Half a cup is equivalent to a serving of vegetables while delivering the sour flavor and adding crunch. Here we add fermented radish and carrot to our bowl of tofu and sinangag. Or serve ferments as refreshing ensalada.

2. Lugaw loves ferments.

Our mild creamy rice porridge, which is easy to make and also available in many carinderias, pairs so well with fermented vegetables. Lugaw lets us add the ferments as toppings, which preserves those all-important live microorganisms.

3. Embrace it in sinangag.

Make a meal out of that fried rice by tossing in a hearty serving of chopped fermented vegetables. Think kimchi fried rice or Mabi’s favorite burong mustasa fried rice.

4. Mix it into your lumpia filling.

Like lugaw, lumpiang gulay is a typical breakfast ulam in many eateries. If you’re a fan of fried spring rolls, adding your favorite ferment is a great way to include fermented foods into your daily dishes. We like to make kimchi lumpia and burong mustasa lumpia.

Like the free content we’re sharing? We would welcome some coffee!

You can also share your fermentation journey with us by tagging us on Instagram and Facebook with your questions. Be the first to hear about our workshops and launches by subscribing here.