早餐之書：穿越歷史時空與文學品味的早餐解謎之旅

by Andrew Dalby

走入歷史，遠從荷馬時代到塞萬提斯，從福爾摩斯到哈比人，
來自世界各地的早餐故事、考證、溯源，既嚴謹又天馬行空，
不可思議的穿越時空早餐之旅！

《魔戒》中，哈比人早上要吃兩頓早餐，這可不是作者偶然的靈機一動而已，你知道「兩頓早餐」也是其來有自的嗎？

《福爾摩斯》中，大偵探福爾摩斯和他的搭檔華生，除了經典英式早餐外，早上還喜歡來頓咖哩雞，你是否注意到這留下了十九世紀英屬印度早餐的痕跡？

大文豪狄更斯筆下描述了「完美的早餐」、莫內的油畫《早餐》細細描繪了一桌子餐點、莎士比亞戲劇裡的早餐總是麵包、蛋、牛油跟麥芽酒；還有，自從一九○九年發明了烤麵包機，大家就老是把吐司烤到忘記！

任何歷史中都可以找出「早餐」的痕跡，早餐也能夠連結到任何事物──家庭、友誼、愛情……千萬別小看了一頓早餐，作者還要為你訴說更多與早餐相關的趣聞故事，等你翻開本書一探究竟！

書末附錄的各國經典早餐食譜，也快捲起袖子嘗試看看吧！

（※本書為《早餐之書：一場穿越時間與空間的早餐之旅》改版書）

Genres: Nonfiction, Food, Cooking, Culinary, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Andrew Dalby (born Liverpool, 1947) is an English linguist, translator and historian who most often writes about food history.

Dalby studied at the Bristol Grammar School, where he learned some Latin, French and Greek; then at the University of Cambridge. There he studied Latin and Greek at first, afterwards Romance languages and linguistics. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1970. Dalby then worked for fifteen years at Cambridge University Library, eventually specializing in Southern Asia. He gained familiarity with some other languages because of his work there, where he had to work with foreign serials and afterwards with South and Southeast Asian materials. In 1982 and 1983 he collaborated with Sao Saimong in cataloguing the Scott Collection of manuscripts and documents from Burma (especially the Shan States) and Indochina; He was later to publish a short biography of the colonial civil servant and explorer J. G. Scott, who formed the collection.[1] To help him with this task, he took classes in Cambridge again in Sanskrit, Hindi and Pali and in London in Burmese and Thai.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 2 out of 5]

karen gave me this book. Mine didn't come with the attached egg-holder, though; I think she must have kept that for herself because she is a cute things hoarder.



Thanks, karen!

I would characterize this as "mildly interesting." There were some pleasing trivia, but it felt overall rather bland and pointless.

Also, it suffered in a major way from a very Anglo-centric "Haha, look at these WEIRD things that non-English people eat for breakfast" attitude.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes! This is the sort of food history I was looking for from Dalby in his Cheese book. Concise, well sourced (though I'd appreciate more historical sources than literary), and covering all aspects of breakfast while remaining organized enough to maintain a steady narrative. Overall, Dalby sticks to reviewing breakfast across history and then adds the element of space to discuss non-Western breakfasts, which is especially interesting for those of us more accustomed to the standard English or Continental breakfast. Illustrations are plentiful and I'm happy to report that I learned several fun facts from this book too. Recipes closing the book are in metric, which is a bit annoying as an American, but they aren't historical, so interested parties should be able to use them with little fuss.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather good read, as long as one is genuinely and deeply interested in the origins, history, and, well POINT of breakfast. A few recipes in the back, but nothing too extraordinary. Made me want to try new kinds of breakfasts, though--and avoid sweet, American ones!