vary in number per day, relative sizes, and nomenclature around the world. As regards number, one thing was made quite clear by Hilaire Belloc (1940), applying the wisdom which he had acquired in an Anglo-Saxon environment to the rest of the world, in his poem about Henry King, whose chief defect was chewing bits of string. The doomed child, on the verge of expiring in front of the horrified physicians who had declared his case hopeless, issued this succinct warning:
‘Oh my friends be warned by me,That breakfast, dinner, lunch and teaAre all the human frame requires.’With that the wretched child expires.
See breakfast; elevenses (also merenda); lunch; afternoon tea; high tea; dinner (which includes supper); and the succeeding entry which brings together some of the issues surrounding the times of these various events.
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.
Belloc, Hilaire (1940), Cautionary Verses, London: Duckworth.
