Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. After a long night of no food, you wake up, groggy and hungry as ever, and begin your day. Breakfast can either make or break—punny, eh?—your mood for a good portion of your day based on how little or how much you eat and what you eat.

Allow me to explain why breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, but is also the best meal of the day, even as a vegan

1. It’s dessert. But it’s a meal.

Donuts, pancakes, waffles, croissants, muffins, scones... need I go on? This is the ONLY meal where it’s normal and socially acceptable for you to eat an entire place of excessively sugary carbohydrates. Take advantage of the opportunity, bro.

2. Hash. Browns.

Dear goodness, is there such a thing as a bad plate of hash browns? Potatoes are one of the most versatile staples in anyone’s diet, and hash browns themselves are versatile too. You have the stringy, Waffle House kind. You have the biscuit-shaped tater-tot ones from McDonald’s. You have the little nuggets of goodness (flatter tater-tots, essentially) from places like Chikfila and Bojangles and Dunkin’ Donuts and Hardee’s/Rally’s...

And then, my personal favorite—the home fry. Forget home dogs and homies, home fries are my MVP, at any meal. They’re just small, fried, cubed potatoes of which I could eat a large mixing bowl full. If you’re at the right place, they can be the most flavorful, well-seasoned, perfectly greasy, just the right amount of crunchy, pieces of potato you ever did have the chance to eat.

3. All the fruit.

Not a big fan of veggies? Breakfast is for you. Fruits are all around any good breakfast table. Bananas, strawberries, raspberries, apples, kiwi, melons, grapes, blueberries, and oranges, oh my!

4. Bread

Toast, biscuits, little sandwiches, rolls... there’s bread everywhere. You can top it off with avocados or butter, jelly or jam, or you can even dip it into your coffee. Bread is such a wonderful thing, and it’s a key player in a lot of breakfasts.

5. Smoothies and açaí bowls

Are you looking for an Insta-worthy way to make yourself breakfast? Throw some almond milk, peanut butter, and your choice of fruits in to a blender, pour it into a cute glass, stick in a cute straw, and BAM: you’re Instagram-famous. Okay, it’s not usually that easy, but smoothies are so easy and quick and they’re usually quite nutritious if you pick the right ingredients.

And açaí bowls, the trendy version of a superfood (note the açaí) smoothie, are just as nutritious, but since you’re eating with a spoon, you can top it off with sliced fruit, chocolate pieces, nuts, granola, whatever you’d like, to add a bit of variance in texture. Now that is an Insta-worthy breakfast.

6. Coffee

Be it a shot of espresso, a black coffee, an americano, a cappuccino, a latte, a macchiato, a breve, blonde roast, dark roast, medium roast, or even tea, if we really have to go there—breakfast beverages are there to help you start your day right. That is, with a burst of caffeine. (A very yummy burst of caffeine, in my opinion.)

7. Tofu scramble

Okay, so not all people can agree on this, especially non-veggies. However, tofu scramble is a great way to get some protein in your system early on in your day. If properly seasoned and cooked, you’ll want to eat a large heap of the tiny cubes of tofu. Honestly, tofu scramble is a staple in any tofu-lover’s diet, whether they call it tofu scramble or not.

8. Cereal

Even breakfasts you make in a rush/on your lazy days are fantastic. Cereal is fantastic. Nobody can hate cereal—there are too many varieties of it! There’s the Grape Nuts, there’s the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, there’s the Raisin Bran, there’s the Froot Loops, there’s the Krave, there’s the Special K... there is something for everyone. Add in your choice of milk, dairy or non-dairy, and your day is started with a yummy, crispity, crunchity bang.

Lastly, I shall include a point that I encourage vegans and vegetarians to ignore. I also won’t elaborate too much, as I fall into that category myself and do not encourage animal product consumption, however I cannot leave off a crucial part to an omnivore’s breakfast plate.

9. Bacon. And. Eggs.

Bacon is great (tasting). Yup. Breakfast=bacon. It’s simple. I don’t need to say more.

Eggs, oh how I miss you. Eggs are similar to potatoes in that they’re so versatile. Poached, boiled, fried, scrambled... you get to choose. They’re protein packed and yummy (but sadly not vegan).