The Ingredient In Sunny Anderson's Classic Breakfast That Has Instagram Fighting

Sunny Anderson recently posted a picture of her breakfast to Instagram, which is not in itself stop-the-presses kind of stuff. Insta food shots kind of go with the territory, what with her being a Food Network star. It was, of course, the kind of photo that most of us at-home cooks would struggle to reproduce –- fried eggs, after all, are surprisingly hard to get just right, and sausage placement can be tricky as well. In fact, Anderson seems to have lucked out there, as she admitted that she just kind of "plunked [the sausage] down precariously close to the yolk." Luckily, nothing broke.

The hash that was mostly hidden under the eggs in the picture was a little unusual as, in addition to sweet potatoes, Anderson also mixed in some pears. "A-pear-ently" (her words), this was due to an incident involving an Instacart shopper who over-delivered on the produce she'd ordered. The pears, however, weren't the ingredient that sparked the controversy in the Instagram comments. Instead, it seems people had mixed feelings about the amount of seasoning she used.

While people weren't exactly fighting over Anderson's breakfast photo, her zealous use of a certain spice sparked a lively discussion. Anderson herself brought this up in her caption, asking, "I'm wondering, is that too much black pepper or nah?" Weighing in on the "too much" side were just a few commenters; one said "Dat's A LOT a pepper. Did you sneeze?!?" (It seems Anderson did not.) And another commenter characterized the amount of pepper as "too much as far as taste goes, but just right for the presentation!"

Far more numerous, however, were pepper partisans who defended Anderson's exuberantly-spiced eggs. As one person said, "It's an egg. It needs all the pepper!" Another admitted to enjoying pepper in their coffee, as well as on their eggs. One fan went so far as to say, "Not enough black pepper!!" to which Anderson replied, "You're invited for dinner." How lucky can you get?

Should you too be so fortunate as to score an invite to Chez Anderson and you're wondering what the perfect hostess gift to bring might be, we've got you covered. Something tells us this super-tall pepper grinder would be sure to make Sunny smile.