French people eat at very regular hours, but how have they learnt this food rhythm and how do they transmit it to their children? We analyse food rhythm as a technique of the body. We carried out a qualitative survey on breakfasting practices in the higher strata of the working class and analysed a national nutrition survey (INCA 2006). The interviewees remember that their parents tried to teach them to breakfast, all of them try to make their own children eat a breakfast, but many do not eat a breakfast. Skipping breakfast as a technique of the body may be adjusted to the family and work constraints that working-class households typically meet. Some interviewees, who are engaged in upward mobility, have carried out the « work by themselves on themselves » in order to adopt a technique more consistent with dominant food norms. Incorporating a food rhythm resorts to social stratification processes producing living conditions and social status.