HOW PEOPLE BREAKFAST.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 93, 1 December 1911, Page 2

HOW PEOPLE BREAKFAST.

ABROAD AND AT HOME. Breakfast in the Sunny South la a repast towards which English folk have always looked with admiring eyes. People who go abroad for the first time are invariably struck with the simplicity of the first meal of the day ; they delight in the coffee with little rolls and butter, eaten in the privacy of their own rooms. How good these rolls taste in Switzerland even though the honey provided as an accompaniment may never have seen a bees’ hive ! How delightful of a morning in Italy it is to sit on a balcony, overlooking the sea, and eat the little pieces of toast sent for the English woman’s breakfast. In Germany something similar prevails, and in France once more there are dainty rolls with a big howl or cup of coffee. In Southern France the coSee is often made for the household soon after six o’clock. Any visitor appearing after eight would feel ashamed to ask for the petit dejeuner. It is the early morning hour that makes a wide difference between Efigland' and the South. The English woman usually has her cup of tea quite early, but she does not call that her petit dejeuner, far from it. That special refreshment has nothing to Co • ith breakfast. In many housebc’ ■ i the first meal of the day sp.c Is itself out from eight in the morning, when the master must hurriedly swallow tea and toast and the inevitable bacon, until ten or eleven o’clock. For the old order is changing. The modern breakfast table has ceased to be a centre around which the family is supposed to group itself, with bright expectant faces, preliminary to the tasks of the day. Many alterations in ideals have brought about this state of matters. Fifty years ago a housekeeper would have been ashamed if callers at eleven o’clock had seen breakfast dishes on the dining-room table. Now she does not even pay the slightest attention to them ; she is well aware that some members of the home circle have not yet been satisfied. Alterations combine to bring this about. Young people are out much later than they used to be ; there is more dancing, more theatre-going, and the standard of home life generally has changed. Where breakfast is still provided in the orthodox fashion it has borrowed a good deal from American ideas. The linen cloth spread on the table is not a counterpart of that used at dinnertime. It is a dainty draping of fine linen, often touched with colour. Fruit is usually served as well as cereals, with cream, and a dish of bacon ceased long ago to be regarded as sufficient for breakfast. All sorts of potted meats are provided, as well as at least two hot dishes. There are hot cakes, toast, rolls, and brown bread. Ths breakfast service is just as ornamental as the one used for afternoon tea. Colours are introduced in the china, and in the stoneware used for keeping dishes hot. Breakfast parties are more common than they were even a few years ago. This suggests a return to the days when witty people were considered at their beat in the morning hours.— “Telegraph.”