Are you considering hosting a Breakfast Cure brunch at your house or a congee/jook/porridge tasting at the clinic? Here are a few key tips to help make these events successful from the start.
We’ve served hundreds of samples in one day during free tastings at events like the Pacific Symposium. We’ve also served Breakfast Cure to our patients after an acupuncture treatment as they take a moment to enjoy basking in the acu-glow.
Gatherings with friends and family are the best, and we hear stories that make us smile from Breakfast Cure fans about holiday mornings with a full spread of toppings, sides, and beverages to compliment their favorite Breakfast Cure flavors. Hosting a Breakfast Cure tasting at the office or clinic is a wonderful way for acupuncturists and other medical professionals to share their love of congee-inspired, warm, healing meals with patients, employees, neighbors, and others in the waiting room. Please continue reading below the next section (on hosting brunch at home) for ideas and resources for wellness clinic tastings and events
Gathering with Friends and Family at Home for a Breakfast Cure Brunch
Informal home brunch parties are fun, simple, and truly rewarding.
Check the list below for success from the first gathering.
- Pick a date and time
- List who you want to invite and invite them
- Select and order flavors you want to share, we suggest three or more for a nice variety
- Find, borrow, or buy enough crockpots, instant pots, or pressure cookers you plan to use to cook your Breakfast Cure. Crockpots are our first choice because Breakfast Cure stays warm and ready for a sample at any moment during your event, a key to ease and success
- Brainstorm your favorite modifications, toppings, stir-ins, etc to go with your flavors
- Gather small bowls and dishes for your toppings
- Consider offering tea. Be sure you have some fresh on hand for the party.
The process is simple and enjoyable. The aroma is fabulous and everyone enjoys sampling a variety of flavors.
Practitioners Guide to Hosting a Breakfast Cure Tasting
- Join our growing team of practitioners. Sign up for a professional wholesale account for a discount of 40% on cases of 6 (any one flavor) and other discounts/benefits.
- Have Breakfast Cure packets available for sale and on display so that patients can look at a few, read the labels, and get a sense of what’s inside.
- Find a local source with a good 1.2-3 quart slow cooker available that you’ve tested or better yet, use yourself or in your clinic to make lunch or samples (more later).
- Set up a small display with a slow cooker, a packet of Breakfast Cure, a cute bowl and spoon, and a serving example in any small bowl. Use one cup of uncooked rice to give the sense of a serving size. Add a few brochures to the display.
- Write up and display a short description of congee and Breakfast Cure from your own experience. Include why it is so important in Chinese medicine to care for your Spleen, Stomach, and Intestines, and how congee does this so well. Include how Breakfast Cure makes it so easy and foolproof. Suggest trying it and seeing how it makes them feel when compared consciously with their usual breakfast.
- Consider sending this as a write-up as an email and using it for a blog post.
- Offer samples to every patient. See our tasting guide below to help you get going.
- We suggest rotating the days of the week so all patients can try a taste.
- Patients love to have a little cozy bite after their treatment. It smells great and is a wonderful option for the clinic. Post a sign announcing “Breakfast Cure Tasting Today. Ask for a FREE SAMPLE now!”
- Let us know – at [email protected] – what works for you so we can continue this conversation about Chinese nutritional therapy with each other and finally have patients who try our dietary suggestions!
Tips For a Successful Tasting:
Preparation:
- Have tasting cups (we love compostable) and spoons (we love eco spoons)
- Have 1 or more Breakfast Cure packets on hand
- Make a “Tasting Today” sign
- Make some optional Referral Cards with space for personal flavor recommendations or see our handout below.
Instructions:
- Use a 1.5-2 quart slow cooker.
- Pour contents of packet into slow cooker. Plug in. Add water as directed on the packet. Set to recommended temp. Cook for 8-12 hours overnight. (Smells great in the office!)
- Place the “Tasting Today” sign in a conspicuous place.
- Offer each person who comes in a sample; ask if they would like any toppings.
- Place a spoonful of Breakfast Cure congee in a tasting cup and add an eco-spoon. Add topping, if desired. Serve while informing the taster that the sample may be very hot.
Additional Tasting Tips:
- Ideally, set up a tasting prep area away from the patient area.
- Add a teaspoon of water to rehydrate if the congee becomes too dry or thick throughout the day. Repeat as necessary.
- Keep a moist towel on hand to keep the serving area tidy.
- Two spoons for serving can be useful to keep all the extra congee in the slow cooker. (One to serve, one to scrape!)
- Be sure to have a sturdy mug for the spoons between servings.
- Send home a Benefits and Flavors Card with patients interested in more information. On the back, circle your flavor recommendations for individual patients or guests using the handy built-in guide. View, download, and print here.
- Join us on Instagram @breakfastcure
Guide to Middle Burner Bliss
- Keep your belly and lower back covered, warm, and cozy.
- Hydrate with warm beverages.
- Eat soup.
- Chew and relax while eating.
- Set down your utensil between bites.
- Use warming spices like ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, etc when cooking or sprinkle on prepared dishes.
- Walk, dance, ride a bike, or get moving for 20 minutes each day.
- Get acupuncture regularly, even if only once a season.
- Practice relaxation: breathe in slowly and exhale even more slowly. Repeat. Try breathing in and out through the nose.
- Minimize or avoid iced drinks, ice cream, and frozen beverages.
- Slice and simmer fresh ginger in water to make ginger tea.
- Take an hour before bed to be screen-free.
- Go outside daily. Touch the bare earth whenever possible.
- Eat congee and take your digestive Chinese herbs.
For more inspiration, look at what our colleague Caroline is doing at her clinic!
