Yes, another breakfast book. I eat breakfast most every day as I work that afternoon to early evening hours when possible in the Estate Pub which I manage as I like to keep my tending skills fresh. That means I get up around eight in the morning and eat breakfast with Ingrid, my wife. When I travel with her, we both look forward to eating breakfast in whatever locale that we’re in.
So I read breakfast books when I run across them. And this is a lovely, quiet gem of a book that covers a lot of ground in under a hundred pages.
Parsons starts off with a short piece on her breakfast experiences included papaya slices in Africa and fried potatoes in the Alps which is followed by some remarks on breakfast in general. Its a nice summation of the history of breakfast but brief by its nature. I recommend Breakfast: A History which will tell everything you want to know about this subject and probably a bit more.
Before I forget to talk about it, let me me gush about the extraordinary artwork which evokes a simpler time perhaps Between the Wars in rural England. (I know I’m over-romanticizing things.) from the cover art which you see in this review to such illustrious like the two page spread on 72 – 73 or the border embellishments on most every page, this is really charming artwork.
So what’s here? Well nothing exotic I can tell you. Nor will you find a Scottish fry-up here either. You will find a Scottish breakfast here consisting of oatcakes, porridge, a smoked fish dish, and poached eggs. Like Breakfast in
The Mountains, The Alps to be precise, consists of rosti (local fried potatoes), ham and eggs, rye bread and potted fresh cheese with thyme.
There’s also essays on. breakfasts at an English country house, in New Orleans, in the Tropics, in New England, in New York, and quite a few other situations as well. There’s a romantic softness to everything that I find appealing as a good breakfast should be without controversy, with disagreeable music, and with pleasant conversation. This book will aid you in achieving provided you pick the proper place and the right setting.
(St.. Martin’s Press, 1991)
