I think in my past life I must’ve starved to death, because it seems I am one of few Yalies to eat breakfast these days. Unfortunately for me, the thought of skipping one of my three daily meals feels terrifying and anxiety-inducing.

Fortunately, this means that I’ve gotten to know the delight of a warm and savory pick-me-up breakfast at Trumbull, and what others are missing out on. Although I’m pretty sure a lot of Trumbull’s breakfast is just frozen items reheated, I’m not looking for something too extravagant AND desperately crave a break from liquid scrambled eggs.

So without fail, I start each day off at Trumbull, trying new items like “Appetizer Spanakopita”.

Spanakopita is a Greek savory pastry made with a crispy, flaky dough and filled with spinach, feta cheese, onions, fresh herbs, and eggs. It reminds me of Starbucks’ “Spinach, Feta & Egg White Wrap,” but Trumbull’s Spanakopita doesn’t come out burning hot and mildly soggy.

It’s small and petite, like a savory breakfast snack you can eat several of. I bite through the satisfying layers of thin crust until I reach the soft filling of feta and spinach. To me, texture is the most important thing when it comes to food; the initial crunch almost replicates the flakiness of a croissant.

Moving onto a rarer dish in Trumbull’s breakfast rotation: “Empanada Egg Sausage and Cheese”

Something could be improved here, perhaps the content of the filling or the dryness of the dough. The pastry dough is a little chalky, and the filling is kinda just a jumble of things – mini sausage, cheese, scrambled egg, and potatoes. I can’t confidently say they’ve been integrated all together in one cohesive bite. Regardless, I’m still happy to try something new. And the empanada is the perfect breakfast item to slide into Trumbull’s brown pastry to-go bags and save for a friend who didn’t wake up in time for breakfast.

Finally, my absolute favorite (and the reason I’ll always show up to Trumbull): Salmon Cream Cheese.

This is the REAL reason I’ve been at Trumbull all along. A bagel with salmon cream cheese (also known as lox) makes me patient enough to toast a bagel in the world’s slowest toasters on campus and make myself a proper bagel. An unevenly toasted bagel, a large schmear of salmon cream cheese, AND capers??? If I close my eyes, I can almost pretend I’m in New York.

You can’t even find this at the Elm. So yes, I do think it’s worth sacrificing your 14 Flex meal swipes (due to my fear of hunger, I stayed on the Full, clearly).

But alas, here are my final notes on my past five weeks of Trumbull breakfast.

1. Please bring back the drip coffee. Apparently this is a hot take, but the regular old drip coffee, plus brown sugar, honey, and half and half, is basically a Starbucks Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso, without the ice. I wish they had brown sugar available at every meal.
2. According to Google, “An average adult makes about 35,000 decisions every single day.” Don’t let what you eat for breakfast be one of them, when Trumbull can do it for you.
3. Finally, the environment at Trumbull is simply serene and an amazingly calm place to start your day, compared to the chaos of other dining halls that offer hot breakfast. It’s quiet, cozy, spacious, and delicious.

For some, a simple Greek yogurt or iced coffee is enough to survive the crack of dawn. But for many others, we’ve failed to recognize the variety of breakfast options different dining halls (especially Express ones) provide. So, if you enjoy a savory breakfast and one less decision to make in your day, I hope to see you at Trumbull.