As the sun rises in Acadiana, Lafayette wakes up to the smell of fresh coffee brewing in kitchens and eateries across town.  While many locals take their first meal of the day at home over the morning newspaper and sounds of Cajun music streaming in from KRVS, the public radio station that features Cajun and Zydeco music daily beginning at 5:00 am, others prefer to eat on the road or on their way to work or school. They may stop and pick up a pastry or doughnut at a bakery or sit down with a cup of coffee and a full meal at a diner for early morning socializing in breakfast circles.

The traditional breakfast in Acadiana had eggs and bacon at its center and quite often smothered potatoes as the starch. But just as often, [couche-couche] the local version of corn meal mush, was a necessary component of a complete breakfast. Such a meal was required for a farmer's long day of work in the field.  

Coffee is one of the most important beverages to local foodways. And the local coffee is quite strong. It plays an important role at most gatherings, including large social events like [bals de maisons], and [fais do-dos], as well as more intimate gatherings in homes where visitors drink it either formally served to them by the host or hostess on a tray (typically in a small cup known as a demi-tasse) or informally around the kitchen table in big mugs. At Acadiana restaurants, coffee flows continuously and conversation is a priority.

Breakfast food in Acadiana is as varied and innovative as its lunch or dinner cuisine.  Local bakeries such as Southside Bakery, Keller's, or the European-styled Anjo's, and Poupart's are popular destinations for a quick pastry, bear-claw, or doughnut to go. One local pastry that everyone should try is the tart. Called *tarte bouilli* in French and originally made, as its name suggests, with a custard filling, local tarts come filled with a large variety of fruit and cream fillings, with the fruit fillings sometimes dependent upon seasonal availability.

Many restaurants combine simple American breakfast foods with a Cajun flare. Hub City Diner's breakfast menu includes staple foods such as scrambled eggs and bacon with toast as well as their locally-reknown boudin scram, an omelet of uncased boudin and scrambled eggs. At T-Coon's, the menu features southern smoked brisket omelets and crawfish omelets. The most popular menu item at the Sunday brunch at Blue Dog Café is the Eggs Benedict topped with a crab cake and hollandaise sauce.

Like all other meals in Acadiana, both inside and outside the home, breakfast offers folks a chance to enjoy each other's company centered around two important cultural commodities, food and drink.