I'm a cereal person. I get a rush from picking out the newest and craziest evolution of the basic rice puff, from Cap'n Crunch's Sprinkled Donut Crunch, to Jif Peanut Butter Cereal.

When I first moved to Beijing, I didn't know about the foreign grocery stores, and instead found comfort in buying the miniature boxes of off-brand cereal that came in a four-pack at the local Jingkelong Supermarket.

My host family must have noticed my not-so-subtle hoarding of these boxes and decided to venture away from their quail egg and dumpling territory, into their version of a Western breakfast.

They had all the ingredients right - the whole grains and the 2 percent milk. The execution was all wrong. My dear host mother presented me with a coffee mug, filled with equal parts milk and cereal so that the soggy yellow bits that resembled Cheerios, were drowning. The mug, to my despair, was hot. It had been zapped in the microwave for too long.

Since then, my breakfast endeavors in China haven't improved much. Sure, they have been bearable - I actually didn't mind my host family's quail and chicken egg combo, occasionally paired with mantou (stiff white bread) and peanut butter and chocolate spread. But once I started living on my own, I was helpless. I started out by buying prepackaged Bimbo bread, which effectively tasted like hot dog buns injected with globs of stuff that resembled chocolate icing.

I eventually caved in to buying expensive $8-a-box cereal, but I also missed the hearty breakfasts like my mom makes. Grandma's Kitchen, a Chinese-owned American-style restaurant, offered pancakes, but its novelty wore off once I came to my senses and remembered how real maple syrup tasted.

A few restaurants in Beijing have started breakfast offerings in recent years, but I assume it is not due to a growing demand from people like me, but an increasing interest in healthy food. Unlike the all-day US diners, these sadly stop serving your morning meal before 10 am. Brunch is an option, but it's still difficult to find one that ventures past the basic jam and toast for a reasonable price. And don't even get me started on hotels.

This is why my Beijing-bound luggage is always stuffed with cereal.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.