The Breakfast Book

"[B]reakfast is the first meal of the day, it is never the largest meal and, I firmly insist, it is taken before noon," asserts Dalby, whose history of breakfast spans centuries of pancakes, cereal, and gruel. 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, he drives the point home. 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. Although interesting details abound, the book is never truly absorbing; Dalby eschews any concrete thesis about why or how we breakfast, perhaps because the answers seem obvious. So, too, is the book, in a way, although still charming. A closing section of breakfast food recipes in European measurements and oven temperatures doesn't add much for American readers. 59 color plates, 16 halftones (Apr.)