Student Alan Jay Epstein Wants to Know What You Had for Breakfast
What did you have for breakfast today? That’s the question behind School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) student Alan Jay Epstein’s popular Instagram, What Was Breakfast. Since 2016, Epstein has hit the streets to interview Chicagoans about their first meals of the day. His photos and video interviews capture a wide range of the city’s personalities—and the subjects’ breakfast orders reveal even more about themselves. To Epstein, breakfast is the great equalizer.
“If you’re a human, you’re gonna fall asleep, and you’re gonna wake up, and you’re gonna eat,” he said. “And if you stop doing any of those things for longer than a few days, you’re in trouble.”
At SAIC, Epstein is rounding out his filmmaking focus with classes like art history and comics. He’s already seeing how exploring different art forms can influence his approach—including his work with What Was Breakfast. Here, he discusses What Was Breakfast’s genesis, his own art practice, and where to get the best short stack in the city.
How did you start What Was Breakfast?
I was working in the Cherry Circle Room at the Chicago Athletic Association. And I was saying, “Every time someone orders this Two of Everything breakfast, it’s like an interview.” Me and my buddy kinda looked at each other, and we were like, “Oh. Something is there.” And he wrote what I would order if I got a Two of Everything Breakfast on the whiteboard: scrambled, sourdough toast, whatever. And I was like, “Oh, like my personality is in this little interview somehow.” It’s just a really strangely intimate kinda thing, where you get a little window into somebody’s likes and preferences. It’s like a shortcut to getting to know a certain aspect of somebody.
I had a camera that I was just learning how to use, and I took it into work and I started photographing all my coworkers. When I ran out of coworkers, I decided to take it to the streets.
How do you choose who you approach on the street?
I think there’s a feeling that you get from a person. And sometimes people look cool and then you get a little closer and you’re like, “oh, vibe’s off.” And then you veer off. But part of it is a feeling. The way that a person feels comes off in a short interview.
A major entry point to a conversation is fashion because I can say, “Hey, I like these glasses you’re wearing,” or, “Those shoes are great.” And those are choices that people made, so if I’m complimenting a choice that they make, it’s a great entry.
And there’s this kind of a five-foot-away little eye contact dance where I’m coming in from afar. That’s the thing that gives me a higher percentage rate of not getting shut down. If I look at you and you look away, I know that look-away is essentially a “no” already.
What brought you to SAIC?
I started What Was Breakfast two blocks away from here. Probably half the people I interviewed go to SAIC, so I’ve interviewed a lot of art students. I feel like I’ve been at and around SAIC for a long time. I go to see movies at the Gene Siskel Film Center all the time, and I walk through the courtyard at the Art Institute of Chicago. This is where What Was Breakfast has been happening.
A lot of What Was Breakfast has been about me recognizing myself as an artist of some sort. I don’t think that I even would have had the confidence or belief that I would get into a place like SAIC if it weren’t for this street project that I’ve done for a long time. As I’m here, my concept of being an artist is already in flux.
A lot of the things that I wanna do have been confined into video-style documentaries around food. But I don’t necessarily have to play to what I’ve always done. The more chats that I attend, the more art history classes that I take, the more I’m like, “You know, I can kinda do a lot.”
What makes breakfast such a good subject?
So, as far as relatable content, every single person in the world is gonna eat breakfast. It’s just an essential human function. I think inherently this interview is about something that we all have in common without being heavy-handed about it. I was super inspired by the Humans of New York guy, but I personally can’t just walk up to somebody and be like, “Tell me about your trauma, dog.” No way. I just want some snappy fun.
Where is your favorite breakfast spot in the city?
White Palace Grill, no question. Two by two by two by two: scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, black coffee. You gotta sit by the window, but if you don’t sit by the window, you gotta sit by this mural that is absolutely bonkers. It’s got Michael Jordan, Hillary Clinton, Harold Washington, Oprah Winfrey, Frank Sinatra. It’s just like one of the coolest, wildest pieces of art I’ve ever seen. I want my coffee refilled a zillion times and I want pancakes. I’m truly happy when that happens.
With her Stories by Strangers project, student Nitya Mehrotra uses her skills as an artist to tell the stories of sexual and mental abusive survivors.
