愛心早餐

他每天給他煮愛心早餐

英國攝影師 Michael Zee 每天都會為他的男朋友 Mark van Beek 煮愛心早餐，有一天他無意中發現兩份早餐的擺設竟然是完全對稱，於是就萌生 “Symmetry Breakfast” 計劃，分享他們每天的早餐——除了煎蛋、麵包、水果，還有中式點心、日本和菓子、荷蘭風格的煎餅……款式天天不同，讓人既羨慕又窩心——為了準備早餐，Zee 有時要在早一晚就開始準備；但能夠讓對方吃得快樂滿足，就算有點辛苦，又有甚麼所謂呢？


One sunny spring day last year, Michael Zee made breakfast for Mark van Beek, his boyfriend of two years. When he laid it out (an omelette, avocado, salami and fruit juice), he noticed it was perfectly symmetrical. He took a photo and posted it online, and soon attracted a smattering of comments from friends who thought it was cute, if a bit twee.

So Zee, an educational officer at a museum, kept it up for the next few months – arranging their breakfasts to match and posting the images on social media. By January, the Instagram account symmetrybreakfast, with the strapline “for my boyfriend and me”, was born. After a month, it had 200 followers; now, 400 breakfasts later, the account has more than 92,000 followers.

“People wonder if I’m crazy or obsessive,” Zee says, “but it is a declaration of love, really. I’m dedicated – both to breakfast and to Mark.” There are now plans to expand offline and into the real world; there were queues at a recent pop-up “symmetry breakfast” club in London. A range of homewares is in the pipeline; next, they want to write a cookbook.

When it comes to breakfast, the couple’s roles are clearly defined: Zee cooks and Van Beek, a menswear designer, eats. It’s still a collaboration, Zee says, inspired by their cohabitation. “I do it all, it’s my project, but it wouldn’t exist without Mark.” How on Earth do they find the time to make such elaborate meals every day? “I get up really, really early,” Zee says. “If something takes more than 30 minutes to make, such as a sourdough, I do it the night before. I post at 7.30am and we leave the house at 8am. Usually, within the first hour, I’ll have 1,000 likes and by the next day it will go up to about 3,000.” He admits to making some breakfasts ahead of time if he’s anticipating a hangover (he hasn’t missed a day in a year).


 
 Mark van Beek, left, and Michael Zee. Photograph: Suki Dhanda for the Guardian

Until now, the couple have remained anonymous, and their followers have often presumed the Instagram account is authored by a woman. “I guess because they think it’s the mother, girlfriend or wife who provides. One person I met said they had thought I was a young Asian girl. That was weird.”

Zee, who studied photography for five years, researches global breakfast traditions to find new ideas. Together, he and van Beek have eaten Vietnamese buns, Indian sweets and fried rösti, as well as the more conventional croissants and fruit salads. Inevitably, they have been approached by big brands, from Nespresso to BirdsEye, but Zee says he will collaborate only with small businesses.

Instagram is filled with food pictures, so why does he think theirs stand out? “I think people like it because their own breakfasts are so boring,” Zee says. “Every day they have porridge. People say they love breakfast, but they only make an effort at the weekend. I hope we might inspire them.”

• Follow Symmetry Breakfast on I

http://symmetrybreakfast.com/