Cheeses for breakfast
Feta and olives, Turkish kahvalti, Dutch bread with Gouda, paneer bhurji and the cheese of the first meal.
In much of the world, cheese is a breakfast food. A Turkish breakfast is laid with white cheese, kaşar, olives, tomatoes and bread; Dutch and Scandinavian mornings start with sliced Gouda or brunost on bread; Greek, Levantine and Balkan breakfasts bring feta, labneh, halloumi and akkawi. In India, paneer bhurji and cheese toast are breakfast staples, and in Latin America arepas and cheese breads come warm with coffee.
The eastern Mediterranean spread
Turkish breakfast, kahvaltı, a word that means something like before coffee, is a spread rather than a dish: beyaz peynir, kaşar and tulum cheese, sometimes herb cheese, alongside olives, tomato, cucumber, honey, eggs, bread or simit, and glass after glass of tea. Greek and Cypriot breakfasts add feta and halloumi. In Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, akkawi and labneh sit beside manakish, flatbreads baked with za'atar or cheese and eaten warm from the oven.
Northern Europe
In the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, breakfast and the packed lunch are often bread with cheese cut thin with a cheese plane, a tool patented in Norway in 1925. Young and mature Gouda, Danish Havarti and Danbo, and Norway's sweet brunost are the usual choices, eaten on rye bread or crispbread with coffee. In Germany and Austria, quark is spread on rolls with jam or chives, and in Finland, warm leipäjuusto is eaten with cloudberry jam.
South Asia and Latin America
Indian breakfasts use cheese in cooked dishes: paneer bhurji, scrambled paneer with onion, tomato and spice, eaten with toast or paratha; paneer paratha stuffed with spiced crumbled paneer; and the chilli cheese toast of Mumbai's cafés. In Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan, churpi and datshi go into morning curries with rice. Colombian and Venezuelan arepas are split and filled with fresh white cheese, and Brazil's pão de queijo, small cheese breads of cassava starch, go with morning coffee.
Worth knowing
- Turkish breakfast: A spread of cheeses, olives, bread and tea
- Beyaz peynir: Turkey's white breakfast cheese
- Gouda: Sliced thin on bread in the Netherlands
- Brunost: Sweet brown cheese on Norwegian bread
- Paneer bhurji: Scrambled paneer with onion and spice
- Manakish: Levantine flatbread with za'atar or cheese
- Arepa: Corn cake split and filled with cheese
- Pão de queijo: Brazilian cheese bread of cassava starch
Sources and further reading
Original text by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Customs are described as tradition, not as advice. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Breakfast on EveryCheese
The cheeses written up so far, best known first.
🇩🇪 Germany and 5 moreQuarkTvorog
A fresh, acid-set cow's milk cheese with a smooth texture and mild taste.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇺🇸 United States and 2 moreCottage cheese
A fresh, unaged curd cheese made from skimmed milk and dressed with cream.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇳🇴 NorwayGamalostgammelost
A firm, sour Norwegian cheese made from skimmed cow's milk and aged for several weeks.Cow · Semi-hard · Tangy and lactic
🇪🇬 Egypt and 1 moreDomiatiجبنه دمياطى
A soft, salty Egyptian white cheese salted before coagulation.Buffalo · Bloomy rind · Salty
🇫🇷 FranceFaisselle
A fresh, very soft French cheese strained in a faisselle mold, made from cow, goat, or sheep milk.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇳🇴 NorwayPultost
A soft Norwegian sour milk cheese flavored with caraway seeds and preserved with salt.Cow · Bloomy rind · Tangy and lactic
🇳🇴 NorwaySnøfrisk
A soft, spreadable Norwegian goat cheese with a fresh, sour taste.Goat · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇮🇹 ItalyPrescinsêua
A sour, semi-liquid cow's milk cheese from Liguria used in savory pies and focaccia.Cow · Fresh · Tangy and lactic
🇷🇴 Romania and 1 moreBrânză de vaci
A fresh, crumbly cow's-milk cheese from Romania and Moldova, similar to quark.Cow · Fresh · Milky and fresh
🇫🇷 FranceBoursin
A soft, herb-flecked French spread made from pasteurized cow's milk and cream.Cow · Fresh · Herbal and grassy
🇪🇬 EgyptEgyptian cheeseجبنة (gebna)
A broad category of cheeses central to Egyptian cuisine, ranging from fresh white types to aged blue varieties.Cow · Fresh · Salty
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Gamalost: Quick fix, CC BY 2.0, source
- Faisselle: Véronique PAGNIER, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pultost: Jan-Tore Egge, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Domiati: MartinKassemJ120, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Quark: SKopp, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Cottage cheese: F ASTILY (T ALK ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Prescinsêua: Own work, CC0, source
- Egyptian cheese: Tour d'Afrique, CC BY 2.0, source