Series Foreword, by Ken Albala
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: History and Social Context
Chapter 2: Around the World in a Meal
Chapter 3: Breakfast at Home
Chapter 4: Breakfast Out
Chapter 5: Breakfast in the Arts and Media
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
Heather Arndt Anderson is a Portland, Oregon–based food writer. Her recipes have been published in the cookbook One Big Table: 600 Recipes from the Nation's Best Home Cooks, Farmers, Fishermen, Pit-Masters, and Chefs, and she is a contributing writer to the magazines The Farmer General and Remedy Quarterly. In her food blog, Voodoo & Sauce, the most popular posts are about breakfast.
Modern nutritionists proclaim breakfast the day’s most important
meal, yet many Americans eat it on the run, if at all, and they
exhibit little consistency in the foods they consume. In that,
they’re much like people the world over. Arndt-Anderson surveys the
history of breakfast, finding that over the centuries ideas about
breakfast foods have run the gamut from simple cereals to elaborate
repasts of meat, eggs, cheese, fruits, and vegetables. She recounts
the story of the Kelloggs, whose unintended invention of cornflakes
made dry cereal a staple in Western culture. The Chinese have
always exhibited a fondness for rice gruel as their source of
morning energy. Where people consume breakfast has evolved over the
years, yielding a twentieth-century architectural innovation: the
breakfast nook. Today people often dine out for breakfast, so the
author catalogs various breakfast settings from fast-food
restaurants to elegant venues for power breakfasts. She even
details breakfasts in space and on death row.
*Booklist*
Though often hailed as the most important meal of the day,
breakfast has not always been a universal custom. Food writer Arndt
Anderson follows the evolution of the meal throughout history,
comparing differences among cultures and explaining the origins of
dishes commonly found on the breakfast table. Going all the way
back to antiquity, the author begins with the societal
transformations that led to the adoption of breakfast and explores
the factors that resulted in changes to the meal, such as religion
and the discovery of tea, coffee, and chocolate. The chapter
'Around the World in a Meal,' for instance, covers familiar foods
such as cereals, eggs, bacon, and pastries, as well as those eaten
in other countries. Arndt Anderson also examines how the
preparation of breakfast in the home has varied over time,
influenced by advances in technology and women’s changing roles.
VERDICT The average reader will enjoy the insights into the roots
of familiar foods, this book will mainly appeal to the dedicated
reader with a specific interest in the subject.
*Library Journal*
According to author Arndt Anderson, J.R.R. Tolkien’s hobbits had it
right all along when it comes to breakfast. Their lives in the
shire afforded them six meals a day, “three of which [occurred]
before lunch: breakfast, second breakfast, and elevenses…” In this
literary paean to the morning meal, Anderson provides historical,
social, and cultural perspectives on breakfast consumption. She
occasionally references foods traditionally eaten in other
countries, looking at jook (rice porridge) in China, for example,
and platters of feta, olives, figs, and cucumbers or fresh
flatbread with labneh (spreadable yogurt cheese) in the Middle
East. For the most part, however, the author focuses on matutinal
meals in the United States and by extension England. She gives
beverages such as coffee, tea and orange juice their due and
provides significant background on the major players in the
cold-cereal industry like Kellogg and Post. Further exploration of
the physical spaces where people eat breakfast—coffeehouses,
diners, mess halls and school cafeterias—enliven the narrative as
well. Though Arndt Anderson’s writing has pop culture undertones
and the subject may appeal to a wide market, the price and format
of the book suggest it’s best suited in a specialized setting.
Photos.
*Publishers Weekly*
Food writer Arndt Anderson has authored the first book of the
publisher's new 'Meals Series.' In five thematic chapters
encompassing multiple geographic areas and time periods, the book
provides plenty of interesting details about the first meal of the
day. Topics range from what people called breakfast, the time of
day they ate, staple foods, and locations for eating the meal to,
finally, the role of breakfast in popular culture. While focusing
primarily on the US and England, the author includes information
about non-Western foodways as well as surveys of early food
practices, with discussions about Rome, Greece, and other
pre-Columbian civilizations. Secondary sources account for the
majority of citations, and the book needs more analysis to provide
depth or context for the range of facts presented. Undergraduates
may struggle with undefined terminology. The suppositions (for
example, a hypothetical question about the suitability of the
breakfast eaten by domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh the morning
he attacked the Murrah Federal Building) highlight the casual
nature of the book. With interesting information but little
analysis, this book best serves a general readership. Summing Up:
Recommended. Public libraries.
*CHOICE*
Our 'most important meal of the day' hasn't always been held in
such high regard. Arndt Anderson shares the back story of our
favorite morning meals in her book.
*New York Post*
There’s more to breakfast than just bacon and eggs. This book
dishes up the complete history of the morning meal, from its
disgraced days as a sign of gluttony in medieval Europe to its
current status as a daily essential. Anderson looks at American
eats, like cold cereals, and dishes served in other countries, such
as rice porridge and cheese platters. Plus, you’ll pick up pop
culture tidbits and follow the rise of the breakfast sandwich to
fast-food fame.
*Reminisce*
Heather Arndt Anderson gives us an entertaining and lucid account
of the world’s most important meal! We’ve been waiting for an
expert like her to shed light on the ways that people around the
world break their fast.
*Andrea L. Broomfield, author of Food and Cooking in Victorian
England: A History*
I started reading Heather Arndt Anderson's Breakfast: A History
while sipping my morning coffee and chewing on a bagel schmeared
with cream cheese. I couldn't put the book down. It is well
researched and brims with surprising facts placed into a broader
historical and global context. It's a must-read for culinary
historians as well as for breakfast lovers.
*Andrew F. Smith, culinary historian*
Breakfast: A History is at once sweet and savory as well as witty
and well informed. It's enough to make this confirmed night-owl
think about rising earlier each morning.
*Gary Allen, author of Sausage: A Global History*
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