Instant Health Food ``It’s convenient and also very nutritious.``

``I have my own cup and spoon at my work. Thus, it’s convenient since I only need to buy a 200 ml milk pack at a convenience store.``

Kwon Yong-Ju (27. a curator at the Seoul Animation Center) has been consuming instant food for breakfast for last five months. Whenever there is an animation exhibition, Kwon just leave the instant food-packs at the center because her work hour is irregular and she frequently works throughout the night without sleeping.

#People consume instant food = The instant food is made by drying the frozen or granulated grains, such as germinated brown rice, barley, black bean, various vegetables, seaweeds, mushrooms, and so on. Kwon said that the strongpoint of the instant food is its convenience saying that, ``It is convenient because, rather than eating, all I need to do is just drink.``

Although it takes much shorter time to prepare during the busy morning hour, it still gives the same `satiated feeling` as a regular meal. Because of the bitter taste when mixed with water, Kwon consumes the instant food mixing with milk, bean milk, or orange juice. Although she has acquired the thick and tasteless flavor, sometimes she mixes the content with hot chocolate.

Since the instant foods contain Chitosan and vitamins, along with the essential nutritive substances, they can help to prevent geriatric diseases. One serving of the instant food has same calorie as a piece of bread (165 kcal).

These instant food companies, such as the Pulmuone Co. and the Goodfor. Co., established last year, are targeting the college students who cook alone, singles and working couples as their main patrons. Nowadays, many parents of students studying abroad are sending the instant food to their children through delivery companies.

#Alternative breakfast = Besides the instant foods, many office workers and housewives interested in their health are gladly looking for various kinds of `alternative breakfast`.

Office worker Kim Hee-Won (27. an employee of the Mirae Asset Co.) has `mushroom yogurt` for breakfast. Although it is as sour as the `natural yogurt`, Kim is not tired of eating the yogurt. The mushroom yogurt is gaining popularity among housewives who live in the apartment towns of Seoul.

One can easily make mushroom yogurt. When one puts the Tibet mushrooms into milk and leave it for one day, the contents swell up like `pure tofu` as the natural fermentation takes place. When it is served, it tastes like a thick yogurt.

TV actress Chae See-Ra is famous for making the `sunsik juice`, made by grinding nine different kinds of grains and vegetables including Jobs-tear, carrot, and onion, for her husband, Kim Tae-Wook.

The ways the cereals are prepared tends to be more various with people’s own preference. Housewife Kim Ye-Jung (36. Seohyundong, Sungnam City, Bundanggu) grinds the cereal, yogurt, and jam. She said, ``Because it is sweater, my kids like it.``

#Breakfast is mandatory to reduce weight = If one skips the breakfast and overeats lunch, the blood sugar level goes up and the most portion of calorie is accumulated as the form of fat.

Huh Gap-Bum, a professor at Yonsei University Medical School, said, ``If one wants to have only two meals a day, it is better to skip the lunch.`` He explained, ``The energy of 400 kcal is needed to make the brain function. If one skips the breakfast, his/her brain function, such as ability to concentrate, decreases because there is a 17 hour gap of nutrition provision from the evening to next day morning.``

Cho In-Jik cij1999@donga.com