the first meal of the day; literally the meal with which one breaks one's fast. Opinions have varied over the years and around the world as to what foods are suitable for this. Individual tastes play a part, and are perhaps at their strongest early in the day: chacun à son goût, as Major L. (author of Breakfasts, Luncheons and Ball Suppers, 1887) said when noting a baronet's alleged preference for apple tart and home-brewed ale first thing in the morning. The type and quantity of food depends on the daily schedule; those who labour hard may break their fast with a drink and a little bread, followed by a larger second breakfast two or three hours later (see Spain for a fine example of this practice), and guests at a ‘wedding breakfast’ will almost certainly have eaten an ordinary breakfast earlier in the day. At the same time, the double breakfast is a concept dear to Germans' and Austrians' hearts, with the zweite Früstück being their elevenses. None the less, the western view of the meal being (relatively) insubstantial may be countered by other cultures where it bulks larger. In Korea it is indeed the principal repast; in Turkey and other parts of the Middle East, a favourite meal of sheep's head and trotters is hardly a snack.
The most flexible versions of breakfast are probably the C. and N. European buffets of breads, pastries, cheeses, and cold meats, or their Middle Eastern equivalents of bread, yoghurt, fruit, and preserves. Really substantial breakfasts—and the truly exceptional such as LeVaillant's baked elephant's foot with the Hottentots, or Leichhardt's favourite Australian snack of a kilo of emu meat might be excluded from this summary—include the modern British fry-up, and the N. American subspecies of this, with numerous variations on the theme of eggs, plus options of waffles with maple syrup. India provided Victorian British cooks with inspiration for kedgeree (see Anglo-Indian cookery); traditional Indian breakfasts include dal, rice, breads, samosas, and fruit. Comforting bowls of hot cereal mixtures are popular, from Scottish oatmeal porridge to the rice porridges eaten across much of Asia, of which congee is the best known (but see also haleem; tapé; umeboshi). Minimal approaches to breakfast include croissants and café au lait in France, chocolate and churros (see fritter) in Spain, and many variations on the bowl of muesli theme for those who think that cereal, nuts, and dried fruit are a key to good health.
The British feel that breakfast is one area in which they are experts. In fact, few British people eat a traditional English (or Scottish, Irish, or Welsh) cooked breakfast at home; but they do expect a ‘full English breakfast’ of fried bacon, eggs, sausages, and tomatoes, plus toast, butter, marmalade, and tea or coffee, to be available in any hotel or café (and, since the 1970s, this may be offered as an ‘all-day’ breakfast). Fried bread, potatoes, mushrooms, fancy jams, and regional frills such as porridge, black pudding (see blood sausages), laverbread (see nori), or gammon are provided at the discretion of the proprietor. A kipper is often an alternative to the fried breakfast. This sort of breakfast is commonly believed to reflect some golden era of the more leisured past—usually, the world of the late 19th-century country house. However, an apposite quotation from Dr Johnson (q.v. under Scotland) may be a hint of its true origins: ‘wherever he had supped, he would breakfast in Scotland’. On the other hand, for brunch, see lunch.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Read, Jan, and Manjon, Maite (1981), The Great British Breakfast, London: Michael Joseph.
White, Eileen (1994), ‘First Things First: The Great British Breakfast’, in Wilson (1994).
