Breakfast
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Breakfast is the first meal of the day, usually eaten in the morning.[1] The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.[2] Various "typical" or "traditional" breakfast menus exist, with food choices varying by regions and traditions worldwide.
History
In Old English, a regular morning meal was called morgenmete,[3] and the word dinner, which originated from Gallo-Romance desjunare ("to break one's fast"), referred to a meal after fasting.[4][5] Around the mid-13th century, that meaning of dinner faded away, and around the 15th century "breakfast" came into use in written English to describe a morning meal.[2]
Ancient breakfast
Ancient Egypt
In Ancient Egypt, peasants ate a daily meal, most likely in the morning, consisting of soup, beer, bread, and onions before they left for work in the fields or work commanded by the pharaohs.[6]
The traditional breakfast believed to have been cooked in ancient Egypt was fūl (made from fava beans, possibly the ancestor of today's ful medames), baladi bread, made from emmer wheat, and falafel, and a mixture of fava beans with onions, garlic, parsley and coriander.[7]
Ancient Greece
In Greek literature, there are numerous mentions of ariston, a meal taken not long after sunrise. The Iliad notes this meal with regard to a labor-weary woodsman eager for a light repast to start his day, preparing it even as he is aching with exhaustion.[8] The opening prose of the 16th book of the Odyssey mentions breakfast as the meal being prepared in the morning before attending to one's chores.[9] Eventually ariston was moved to around noon, and a new morning meal was introduced.
In the post-Homeric classical period of Greece, a meal called akratisma was typically consumed immediately after rising in the morning.[8] Akratisma (ἀκρατισμός, akratismos) consisted of barley bread dipped in wine (ἄκρατος, akratos), sometimes complemented by figs or olives.[10] They also made pancakes called tēganitēs (τηγανίτης), tagēnitēs (ταγηνίτης),[11] or tagēnias (ταγηνίας),[12] all words deriving from tagēnon (τάγηνον), meaning "frying pan".[13] The earliest attested references on tagēnias are in the works of the 5th century BC poets Cratinus[14] and Magnes.[15][16][17] Another kind of pancake was staititēs (σταιτίτης), from staitinos (σταίτινος), "of flour or dough of spelt",[18] derived itself from stais (σταῖς), "flour of spelt".[19] Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistae mentions staititas topped with honey, sesame and cheese.[20][21][22]
Ancient Rome
Romans called breakfast ientaculum. It was usually composed of everyday staples like bread, cheese, olives, salad, nuts, raisins, and cold meat left over from the night before.[23] They also drank wine-based drinks such as mulsum, a mixture of wine, honey, and aromatic spices.[24] 1st century Latin poet Martial said that ientaculum was eaten at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, while 16th century scholar Claudius Saumaise wrote that it was typically eaten at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. It seems unlikely that any fixed time was truly assigned for this meal.[25]
Roman soldiers woke up to a breakfast of pulmentus, porridge similar to the Italian polenta, made from roasted spelt wheat or barley that was then pounded and cooked in a cauldron of water.[26]
Middle Ages (500–1500)
Europe
 | This section's factual accuracy is disputed. (June 2021) |
In the European Middle Ages, breakfast was commonly eaten by working people, as well as children, the elderly, the sick, while the upper classes didn't speak of or partake in eating in the morning. Eating breakfast meant that one was poor, was a low-status farmer or laborer who truly needed the energy to sustain his morning's labor, or was too weak to make it to the large, midday dinner. Monarchs and their entourages would spend a lot of time around a table for meals. Only two formal meals were eaten per day—one at mid-day and one in the evening. The exact times varied by period and region, but this two-meal system remained consistent throughout the Middle Ages.[27]
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In the 13th century, breakfast when eaten sometimes consisted of a piece of rye bread and a bit of cheese. Morning meals would not include any meat, and would likely include 0.4 imperial gallons (1.8 L) of low alcohol-content beers. Uncertain quantities of bread and ale could have been consumed in between meals.[28]
By the 15th century, breakfast in western Europe often included meat.[29] By this time, noble men were seen to indulge in breakfast, making it more of a common practice, and by the early 16th century, recorded expenses for breakfast became customary. Breakfast in eastern Europe remained mostly the same as the modern day: a "continental breakfast". The 16th century introduction of caffeinated beverages into the European diet was also an addition to breakfast; it was believed that coffee and tea aid the body in "evacuation of superfluities".[30]
Modern breakfast (1500–present)
Africa
Traditionally, the various cuisines of Africa use a combination of locally available fruits, cereal grains and vegetables, as well as milk and meat products. In some parts of the continent, the traditional diet features milk, curd and whey products. A type of porridge is most commonly eaten. In the book The Bible cyclopædia (et al.) published in 1843, it was documented that during this time in the Arab world, Bedouins often utilized locusts mixed with butter for breakfast, spreading the mixture on unleavened bread.[31]
Egypt
In the book The Bible cyclopædia (et al.) published in 1843, it was documented that Egyptians were early risers that sometimes had a first meal consisting of coffee along with the smoking of a pipe, and did not eat breakfast until noon.[32] At this time, it was documented that Egyptian breakfast foods included bread, cheese, eggs, butter, curds, clotted cream and stewed beans.[32] In addition, fava beans are an established national breakfast dish.[33]
Asia
Middle East
In the Middle East region of Asia, Iftar refers to the evening meal when Muslims break their sawm (fast) during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Iftar is one of the religious observances of Ramadan, and is often done as a community, with people gathering to break their fast together. Iftar is done right after