Traditional Greek vs conventional hotel breakfast: nutritional comparison

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to assemble and nutritionally analyze three traditional Greek hotel breakfast meals (Chalkidiki, Cyclades and Crete) and compare them with the American, English and continental breakfast.

Design/methodology/approach

The traditional local breakfast foods and beverages for the breakfast compositions were selectively chosen predominantly from the website of the “Greek breakfast” initiative by Greek Chamber of Hotels and from other sources, following a thorough review of the literature. The breakfast meals were designed to be consumed by two people. The nutritional analysis of the meals was performed with the use of specially designed spreadsheets, the US Department of Agriculture Research Service and Greek food composition database.

Findings

The nutritional analysis of the English (45.9 g), American (41.6 g) and Cretan (38.8 g) breakfast meals revealed that these breakfast meals had the highest amount of total fat (per estimated portion) with the Cretan breakfast containing the largest amount of monounsaturated fatty acids (2.9 g/100 kcal). Moreover, the Cretan breakfast had also the lowest levels of sugars (2 g/100 kcal). The highest quantity of simple sugars was contained in the continental breakfast (7.2 g/100 kcal). The English breakfast had the highest sodium content (186.3 mg/100 kcal). Finally, the Cyclades breakfast had very high levels of potassium (184.4 mg/100 kcal) and Chalkidiki’s breakfast had the highest amount of calcium (65.2 mg/100 kcal). The three traditional Greek breakfasts and the three conventional breakfasts were grouped in two categories and compared nutritionally. The results show that the content of monounsaturated fats is significantly higher in Greek breakfast meals (p-value < 0.05) compared to the conventional ones.

Originality/value

This nutritional comparison could facilitate the promotion of traditional Greek breakfast meals in tourist destinations.

Citation

Giazitzi, K., Palisidis, G., Boskou, G. and Costarelli, V. (2020), "Traditional Greek vs conventional hotel breakfast: nutritional comparison", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 50 No. 4, pp. 711-723. https://doi.org/10.1108/NFS-04-2019-0137