What should we eat for breakfast? American and Chinese children’s prescriptive judgments about breakfast foods

•Typical American breakfast foods are notoriously unhealthy.•U.S. 4–5-year-olds tend to misjudge breakfast staples as better than other foods.•U.S. children tend to be unwilling to eat lunch or dinner foods for breakfast.•Chinese children don’t hold mistaken beliefs about what is best to eat at breakfast.•Children’s beliefs about breakfast foods predict their openness to healthier items.