Atlantic region leads Canada in highest daily breakfast rates: survey

A new survey from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab shows over 60 per cent of Atlantic Canadians surveyed eat breakfast daily.

Dalhousie University food professor Sylvain Charlebois said he wasn’t surprised to see the Atlantic region on top.

“I think it’s because of the quality of life in our region. We have time. We’re an hour ahead of New York, Toronto, Montreal, and that’s really when North America wakes up. I think Maritimers actually enjoy that extra hour and have more time. We don’t commute as much, that’s an advantage for us,” he told CTV Atlantics Todd Battis in an interview on Thursday.

Charlebois said British Columbia has the highest rate of breakfast skippers.

“The national average is 57 percent of people actually eat breakfast every single day. The lowest rate is actually British Columbia which is close to 40 per cent. So it’s a bit of a difference here.”

According to the survey, Gen Z has the highest rate of breakfast skippers at nine per cent and the lowest rate of daily breakfast consumption at 48.8 per cent.

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Meanwhile, the Greatest Generation has the highest rate of daily breakfast consumption at 74.8 per cent, while Boomers have the lowest rate of breakfast skippers at 4.1 per cent.

“Generation wise, Gen Z, millennials not keen on having breakfast as much as the old folks,” said Charlebois. “I think millennials and Gen Z have a different idea of the three meal institution. They really structure their day very differently around maybe two meals and many snacks.

The survey finds, the top three preferred food choices for breakfast in Canada is a piece of toast or a bagel, eggs, and cereal.

The survey also finds coffee remains the beverage of choice, with 52.6 per cent preferring coffee with breakfast. Baby Boomers and the Greatest Generation are at least twice as likely to prefer having coffee with breakfast as Gen Zs.

The survey was conducted in March 2024, with a total of 9,165 respondents.