Somehow I missed the fact that breakfast for dinner has been going by the name "brinner" since about 2014, when an article by Kathleen Purvis about the trend was picked up by a slew of regional newspapers across the US. The thought was that brinner would overtake brunch in popularity, both at homes and in restaurants. I do not believe this came to pass, and while brunch can be found in Webster's Dictionary, brinner hasn't made it in there yet.

That's too bad, because at our house, brinner is always a winner. Even on those days when I can't muster the moxie to boil dried pasta and heat up a jar of sauce, I can find the energy to fry bacon, crack an egg, and pop bread into the toaster. Even though this is ostensibly more work than the spaghetti dinner, it does not feel like it. And if I have a tad more left in me, I will shred a potato, adding golden hash browns to the menu.

The appeal of breakfast for dinner is broader than the novelty of rearranging the meal order - I rarely, if ever, think that beef stew or chicken soup is just the thing for breakfast. A more likely explanation is that traditional breakfast foods are delicious and easy to prepare, making the choice a no-brainer, especially on those days when one's brain is on the verge of revolt. Breakfast is often the first thing someone learns how to cook, so it makes sense that it becomes a fallback option when nothing else seems doable. Whether "brinner" ever catches on is debatable, but the concept is no danger of fading away.