Pear overnight oats show why this breakfast has stood the test of time

When I was a 19 year old college student studying nutrition, I took a year off from school to travel the world while working as a model, a job that pr...

When I was a 19-year-old college student studying nutrition, I took a year off from school to travel the world while working as a model, a job that proved more arduous and less glamorous than it might sound, but eye-opening, nonetheless. Modeling is a bit like acting, in that big-name celebrities make millions, but most in the field consider themselves lucky to make a decent living at it. For me, it met my goal of paying for my education.

I worked in Japan, Germany, Switzerland and Italy that year, living in each country for months at a time in small apartments, and mostly cooking for myself because my budget was tight. The adventure broadened my culinary horizons exponentially as I explored local markets, tasted street foods and lingered in neighborhood cafes wherever I happened to be.

One of the foods I remember being awed by at the time was bircher muesli, a traditional Swiss breakfast made of rolled oats, nuts, dried fruit and grated apple, soaked overnight in milk, yogurt and/or juice so the oats soften and expand, and the mixture thickens into a creamy cold cereal.

The breakfast of muesli - with its infinite variations - continued to be part of my routine years after I returned home, and it still is today, only now it’s called overnight oats. I couldn’t have predicted it at the time, but I’m not surprised that this breakfast, invented by physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for his patients more than 100 years ago, is so popular today given how nutritious, tasty and convenient it is.

This overnight oats recipe adheres closely to the traditional version I had in Switzerland, but instead of grated apple, my version has ripe pears, which offer so much sweetness, you wind up not needing any added sugars. (You can always squeeze in a little honey depending on how sweet the fruit is and your personal preference.)