· BURPPLE

The Enduring Popularity of Brunch, Explained

After hitting its peak in 2014/15, brunch seemed destined to become mainstream, passé, and well and thoroughly basic. So why are we still so obsessed with it?

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The story of brunch begins with a hangover.

In 1895, Guy Beringer, an Englishman, wrote an essay for Hunter’s Weekly advocating for a new kind of meal. In his view, the arguments for it were “incontestable”.

“In the first place,” wrote Beringer, “it renders early rising not only unnecessary but ridiculous … You are, therefore, able to prolong your Saturday nights, heedless of…[t]he fear of the next morning’s reaction.” In other words, such a meal offered a realistic compromise for the impulse to get wasted and sleep in.

Enter his solution: the playful love-child of breakfast and lunch.

A century on from Beringer’s manifesto, brunch has become a fully-fledged cultural phenomenon and staple of the weekend dining scene. We are, it seems, still completely in love with it. The question is: why?

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Scrambled eggs on toast with add-ons from Ronin. Photo by Burppler Vanessa Kou

Before we can explore the rise of brunch, we must first understand what this ritual entails.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, let me, as a Basic Bitch who Brunches, say this: brunch is no mere meal. It is a ritual, and like every ritual, it has steps that must be followed.

First, preliminaries. Bunch needs to be organised around 1-2 weeks in advance. This is to give the chat group the requisite period of festering in silence, while everyone procrastinates on deciding where to eat.

Two nights before, someone will realise no progress has been made. The Burpple Guide to The Best Cafes in Singapore is hastily consulted, and a cafe settled on. Everyone agrees to meet at 11:00 AM in the tacit understanding that half the group will be late anyway.

The morning of, crack an eye open 20 minutes before you have to leave the house. Scramble to get dressed and to the cafe, praying that your one responsible friend shows up early enough to secure a table.

When everyone eventually tumbles into their seats, spend the first 10 minutes catching up. When the staff come to take your orders, grin sheepishly and ask for a few more minutes so you can actually look at your menus.

Then the real fun starts.

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Butterscotch Banana Pancakes from Atlas Coffeehouse. Photo by Burppler SG Munchies

No matter how many times you’ve seen a brunch menu, looking at one sparks a crisis of indecision. However firmly you think you’re in Team Sweet or Team Savoury, your resolve will be tested. Do I get the butterscotch banana pancakes? The creamy mushrooms on sourdough toast? A flat white or a mint mocha?

How do you feel todayyou ask your stomach.

I don’t knowreplies Stomach. I want everything.

Ask your friends what they’re ordering, in the hope of a) getting inspiration, or b) that someone is looking at one of your top two choices, so that you can share. (This is the civilised, coordinated version. Alternatively, just steal bites from them anyway.)

Marvel at how the words ‘candied bacon’ are the two most beautiful in the English language.

Marvel at how you, sucker that you are, might actually be willing to shell out $6 for those two measly strips of glory. Again.

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Savoury French Toast from Ronin. Photo by Burppler Vanessa Kou

Continue to languish in the throes of indecision. When the waitress returns, throw the friend seated furthest from you under the bus by suggesting they order first. Make up your mind in the last 5 seconds before the waitress turns to you.

When the food arrives, start snapping photos like you’ve never seen Eggs Benedict in your life. Get your friends to take a photo of you with your food. Take a photo of your friends taking photos of their food.

Finally relax into conversation as everyone tucks in. This gradually dies down as the plates empty and people slump back into their seats, giving their food babies a satisfied pat.

Eventually haul yourselves out of your seats, get the bill, hug goodbye, go home, and pass out.

Repeat from the top two months later.

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Mentaiko Royale at Five Oars Coffee Roasters. Photo by Burppler Alfred Tan

If this sounds all too familiar to you, it’s because you were probably a member of the Basic Brunch Club, which hit peak membership around 2014/15.

Back then, if you threw a coin around Tanjong Pagar or Clarke Quay, you’d hit someone standing in line at one of the innumerable cafes in the area. No menu was complete without some mention of ‘brioche’, ‘truffled’, or ‘sriracha’, and half the population under 35 was suffering from a mild case of scrambled egg fatigue.

We were slightly bored and more than slightly broke. Brunch, it seemed, was starting to lose its sparkle; cafes began to shut as quickly as they opened, forced out by stiff competition and high operating costs.

Yet here we are now, in 2019, and while the honeymoon has ended, it’s clear the party hasn’t stopped.

On any given weekend, the queue at places like Ronin and Five Oars Coffee Roasters can be formidable. Long-time players Forty Hands opened their second branch last year, while Craftsmen Specialty Coffee now has six outlets around the island (I was at one two weekends ago, and only just grabbed the last free table before the crowd set in). Meanwhile, Burpple’s Best Cafes & Coffee guide is easily its most-viewed page every year, racking up over 500,000 views in all since 2014.

Food fads come and go, but our hunger for brunch shows no signs of abating. Why?

Read the full article on Rice.


This story is a collaboration and part of a new food column on Rice