[Sca-cooks] Sweet or Savoury breakfast?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jun 18, 2005, at 3:03 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

>  Margaret FitzWilliam mentioned:
>
>> When we were in England, the "traditional English breakfast" was a
>> wonderful thing--cereal, toast, bacon, eggs, sometimes sausage, fried
>> tomatoes, fried mushrooms, and tea. Mmmmm.
>>
>
> Hmmm. So, where did the term "Continental Breakfast", meaning a  
> simple pastry and maybe some juice, come from? I always thought  
> that this referred to Europe, including England. But maybe this  
> term came about in comparing English rather than American  
> breakfasts to the ones in the rest of Europe?

Nah, "The Continent", and by extension, a "continental breakfast"  
refers to traditions of the countries of the European mainland, and  
most especially those where a Romance language is spoken. So,  
primarily, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal. I mean, Germany is  
certainly on the Continent, but they don't normally go the demitasse- 
and-croissant route.

Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04