The history of breakfast

Breakfast has commonly been practiced worldwide and is a concept easily transferred between cultures, but there have been many regional interpretations over the years. In Medieval Europe, for instance, the basic format of meals differed from what is currently 'standard', in that only two meals were to be had; a heavy dinner at noon and a light supper, largely due to the influence of the Church.

However, exceptions existed, most notably for children and people who were ill. They were allowed a small breakfast meal, and many labourers, farmers, and other physical workers also took the meal despite criticism and social pressure on them not to, and by the 15th century even the nobility had begun to ignore the rules and mores of polite society and took breakfast.

Perhaps the earliest appearance in print of the idea that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" occurs in the novella 'Metamorphosis', published in 1915 by Franz Kafka, which includes the line, "for Gregor's father, breakfast was the most important meal of the day".