Synopses & Reviews
Youandrsquo;ve heard it from doctors, nutritionists, and your mom: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Itandrsquo;s also one of the most diverse, varying greatly from family to family and region to region, even while individuals tend to eat the same thing every day. While Americans traditionally like to chow down on eggs, cereal, and doughnuts, the Japanese eat rice and miso soup, and New Zealanders enjoy porridge. But while we know bacon and sausage links belong alongside pancakes and waffles in the early morning hours, we donandrsquo;t know how breakfast came to be. Taking a multifaceted approach to the story of the morning meal, The Breakfast Book collects narratives of breakfast in an attempt to pin down the mottled history of eating in the A.M.and#160;In search of what people have thought and writtenandmdash;and tastedandmdash;about breakfast, Andrew Dalby traces the mealandrsquo;s origins back to the Neolithic revolution. He follows the trail of toast crumbs from the ancient Near East and classical Greece to modern Europe and across the globe, rediscovering stories of breakfast in three thousand years of fiction, memoirs, and art. Using a multitude of entertaining breakfast facts, anecdotes, and images, he reveals why breakfast is so often the backdrop for unexpected meetings, why so many people eat breakfast out, and why this often silent meal is also so reassuring.and#160;Featuring a selection of historic and contemporary breakfast recipes from around the world, The Breakfast Book is the first book to explore the history of this inimitable meal and will make an ideal morning companion to crumpets, deviled kidneys, and spanakopita alike.
Review
"Kaori O'Connor's splendid biography of what she claims is the most famous national meal in the world shows how it came to occupy such a unique place in the nation's heart and stomach." - PD Smith, The Guardian
Review
and#160;and#8220;Dalbyand#8217;s erudite approach will appeal to anyone who takes seriously this oft-neglected repast.and#8221;
Review
and#160;and#8220;To dip into this compendium is to be forcefully and happily reminded that breakfast, the full English or otherwise, should be the best meal of the day. . . . The art is handsomely reproduced. . . . Between us, Iand#8217;d say that anyone as obsessed with the idea of breakfast as Dalby should be locked up. But he has nevertheless written a marvelously toothsome compendium.and#8221;
Review
and#160;and#8220;Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so they sayand#8212;and it will seem even more so after reading The Breakfast Book. Part cultural history, part recipe book, it traces the origins of the meal in Neolithic times and explores different traditions around the world today.and#8221;
Review
and#160;and#8220;In this volume, Dalby, a historian and translator, presents a flurry of literary examples, mostly European, to prove the varieties of breakfast across time; from Homer to Cervantes, from Lawrence to Steinbeck. . . . The book also presents a wonderful sampling of breakfasting around the world today, such as how they breakfast on churros in Spain or anise-flavored ground cereal in Libya.and#8221;and#160;
Review
and#160;andldquo;Itandrsquo;s impossible to read this book without feeling amused, edified and hungry. It has certainly convinced me that breakfast is the best meal of the day.andrdquo;
Synopsis
A lively and engaging read, The English Breakfast explores the history of England's culinary masterpiece from its early form, via its heyday in the Victorian and Edward eras through to the modern day all-day-breakfasts in a tin.
Synopsis
The English breakfast is one of the best-loved national meals in the world, an edible symbol of England and Englishness. But how did breakfast attain this distinction, what can a national meal tell us about the nation that eats it, what are the links between social and culinary change, and is there more to the English breakfast than bacon and eggs?
This biography of the English breakfast shows how the renowned meal came into being over many centuries, reaching its height in the Victorian and Edwardian eras when splendid breakfasts were served from silver dishes in grand country houses across the land. Following this historical analysis are three authentic and complete cookbooks devoted entirely to breakfasts from the heyday of this best of all meals, with some 500 recipes by three celebrated culinary figures of the Victorian age - an elite hostess, a thrifty housekeeper, and a pukka colonial colonel - before the narrative continues up to the present. The epilogue, new to this paperback edition, covers 'the devolved breakfast' (Scottish, Welsh and Irish); the renaissance of the full breakfast during financial crises and the working class 'caff'.
Mixing anthropology, cultural biography, the invention of tradition and the study of cookbooks as social documents, The English Breakfast is a truly unique work of food history.
About the Author
Andrew Dalbyis a linguist, translator, and historian based in France. He is the author of many books on food history, including Food in the Ancient World from A to Z, Flavours of Byzantium, and Cheese: A Global History, from Reaktionandrsquo;s Edible Series.
Table of Contents
The Biography of a National MealThe English Country House BreakfastEnglish BreakfastsBreakfast and the Breakfast-table from the Young Ladies' JournalA Mere Man's Perfect BreakfastGeorgiana Hill's the Breakfast BookMiss M. L Allen's Breakfast DishesColonel Kenney Herbert's Fifty BreakfastsEpilogueReferences and Bibliography