Until last week I never had more than a black coffee breakfast. Starting my day on a fraction of a calorie meant that I could guiltlessly make up the deficit later. I experienced nothing short of a breakfast epiphany, however, at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons where an experiment marrying the science of nutrition with culinary art is aimed at converting breakfast no-hopers like myself.

Blanc has long believed that the morning meal is an area woefully neglected by chefs. Working with Jeya Henry, Professor of Human Nutrition at Oxford Brookes University and an expert in studies into the nutritional importance of breakfast, the chef has spent the past year searching for ingredients to include in what the pair believe is the ultimate wholesome breakfast. It is now available at the restaurant although the plan is to market the breakfast ideas nationally. They hope to raise its public focus and transform its rather unappetising image.

Professor Henry’s influence has been key to ensuring that the food is not only good for you, but packed with flavour. Two years ago he published a study which showed how the glycemic index (GI) of breakfast can influence the amount of food consumed throughout the rest of the day. Those who ate porridge and linseed bread, both low GI foods, ate less for lunch, consumed fewer snacks between meals and experienced improved concentration. In a new study, Henry hopes to show that the right breakfast can also help women ride the hormonal wave of the menstrual cycle.“Our challenge in this project has been to address three elements: nutrition, taste and the creation of new, low-GI products from wholesome ingredients,” he says. “It has been an entirely joint effort.”

Five months of testing in kitchens and laboratories has resulted in a 100 per cent rye loaf far removed from the dense, unpalatable bread that rye normally produces. Even fruit preserves, normally high in sugar which sends their GI soaring, have been adapted to include little more than their natural fructose. “We took ordinary fruits of the highest quality and boiled them down to see what happened,” says professor Henry. “By using only what nature provides, you automatically get a lower GI product that is more nutritious.”

Calories are not as important as the source and composition of a food and the way it is prepared, he says. Which is why even bacon and eggs gets the thumbs-up. “In culinary terms, the old-fashioned English breakfast has the potential to be one of the best things in England,” he says. “It has been let down by its greasy, fried image. But choose fresh, unadulterated local produce, add mushrooms and tomatoes, and it can be a balanced meal.”

At Le Manoir five types of organic milk, including some from Lady Bamford’s award-winning organic farm, Daylesford in Gloucestershire, are now on offer. Blanc tested 35 butters before opting for an unpasteurised, unsalted product, le Beurre Bordier, made in St-Malo. “It is remarkable butter,” he says. “Prepared at an optimum temperature and texture, it is beaten with two small wooden paddles, and no two restaurants supplied have the same shape product.”

Unrefined palm sugar comes from a Vietnamese village and “by using it we will sustain the village financially”, Blanc says. Fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies are made to order. “Preparing them even an hour before they are drunk would diminish their vitamin and mineral content as the crushed fruits are exposed to the environment,” he says. “Breakfast, like any meal, should be as fresh as possible.”

Beyond what is served on the tables of his restaurants, Blanc is determined to spread the message with Professor Henry that to breakfast like a king is to live healthily. “We will use some of the new foods developed with Raymond in our future studies,” professor Henry says. “Hopefully the results will trigger people to look carefully at their breakfasts and make changes to what they eat. In health terms it is the most important meal of the day and there is scope to make it the most enjoyable. The challenge is in getting that across to the public.”

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