TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14972, 20 May 1914, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The British Breakfast. One of tho points on »&<& th Britou fools most strongly is t ne tion of breakfast. This was shown b" a recent occurrence at JUinhill Asvlunf near Liverpool, when twenty attendants struck work because they were served with porridge instead o f meat for breakfast. The "Daily Mail" explains that porridge j s f ooked upon generally with very u tt \ Q favour as a breakfast food in England The working man, particular It, ha S hearty contempt for it. His breakfast consists, say, of "threo generous cups of strong tea with two lumps of per cup, a kipper or a bloater, and then a thick cut or two of cold boiled bacon tho whole leavened by largo wedge-s of household bread crowned with dripping." The average City man's breakfast starts with fruit or porridge (ho does not as a rule share the workman's dislike for this item), 'goes ou to fillet of sole, taking a boiled egg perhaps in its stride, theneo to broiled bacon, or bacon and kidneys, or some- cold pie, tho wholo supported at intervals by toast and butter, and finished otf with marmalade," a massive and dignified repast. The common boud whicu knits together British break fastens of all classes is pronounced by the "Daily Mail" to be bacon. .Many prominent people support bacon. "A cup of coffee, a little bacon, and some marmalade is th& ideal breakfast for the business man with, large interests and much work to got through, ,, is the opiniou expressed by the manager of "Whiteley's, who, if anyone, should bo able to speak from experience. Mr Charles Garvice, tho novelist, recommend* "bacon for the brainworker," and hints at accompaniments of baked apples, and perhaps a little fish. Pcrridgo and other farinaceous foods, ho 6ays, are generally unsuitable for tho brainworker. '-Not one literary man in fifty can eat porridge. , ' ho declares. A prominent Scotland Yard official confines himself to dry toast and weak tea os a good working basis, but tho polico force, it appears, breakfasts substantially, being particularly addicted to sausages. Doctors are divided on this as on most other matters of diet. "Very light breakfasts," says oue, "are a latter-day fad which has no scientific justification.' . On tho other hand, "Breakfast is a habit, and a bad habit," is the dictum of another. It is to bo expected that tho present enthusiasm for things' French iv England will help to popularise tho rao'dest me-al of coffee and rolls which constitutes tho Frenchman's dejeuner.