A Meta Blog? 

This new Tumblr site, called "Academic Breakfast" sounds like shorthand for terribly banal online content. When someone wants to criticize our ever-connected digital life, they usually complain about how pedestrian some of the content is on social networks and blogs. They'll say something like, "Gee, do I really need to see what Tommy from my kindergarten class has for lunch?" And, no, it likely won't add much to your life to see food pics from your grade-school besties. However, this new blog has much to offer in terms of insight from the seemingly banal.

Scroll through to get a glimpse of what academics eat for breakfast. Each egghead snaps a picture of their meal, shares their academic credentials and a line or two about their research and their food philosophy. The fun is aligning people's eating habits with their outlook and research. Are you surprised that a sociologist eats granola? Check out the kitchen of that PhD student. Sheesh, student life isn't exactly living large, is it? All to say, there's a lot more to read into then what's offered in the captions, which makes this such a great blog.

Lucas Crawford, a faculty member at Simon Fraser University, created the blog to “remind ourselves that eating is a public matter,” as well as to showcase differences in eating habits across faculty members of different ranks, fields, gender and region. He told Academica Group that the site is intended to “produce an alternative aesthetic representation of academic life” while “demystifying academia by entering its intimate spaces and nourishing scenes.”

It's also a great format to take inspiration from because it follows some blogging best practices.

Dear Professor:

Here are some observations we took from this blog. Let this be a lesson!

• The posts are short and digestible (hee, hee, a pun! Digestible!)
• The posts are visually appealing (which is key in our visual culture).
• The blog just begs for interaction. Are you an academic? Go ahead and submit your morning routine!

We give this blog the #InboxHighFive! Give it a read and give a few moments to think both about your breakfast and about how to dust off your blog for more appeal.