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Competitive Breakfasting

A friend recently asked me, "When you get invited to breakfast with other moms, does anyone eat??"

You mean, besides me and my hefty bowl of oatmeal?

It seems my friend had spent the past week eating at breakfasts with other moms from her child's school -- and when they placed orders, after she did for her omelette, or a bacon frittata the second time, the other mother would order coffee. Black. And that's it.

Aha! I smelled some competitive mommy breakfasting. I explained to her that while I had only seen the behavior in the territory of the Upper East Side, I suspected it had started to migrate downtown.

While most Moms I breakfast with (and let's get real, I work, I rarely "breakfast") are happy to chow down on a cheese omelette, oatmeal and a FULL FAT cappuccino, I am more than aware of those moms who consider food something they endure only when necessary, and only when trying to prove to everyone else, "Oh I can eat anything. I just can't seem to gain weight."

In any event. The information, while not comforting to my friend, did seem to illuminate the situation. Now informed, she's learned how to adapt to the new terrain. Coffee black with the school mommies. And then she sometimes gives me a call, I step away from the computer, and we dig into some cheesy eggs.

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