I have never understood people who do not eat breakfast. It is one of the blessings of the day. And what a joy: it comes around regular as clockwork, every morning. The night might have been short or long, but there is always the thought of tea, then cereal and fruit, then coffee. The tastes are simple. As is the pleasure. Why anyone would want to deny themselves by skipping breakfast is a mystery.
Breakfast meets certain biological needs. First thing in the morning, our blood sugar level is low. This is no doubt why sweet pastries are common breakfast fare. Tea and coffee perform a similar trick as an alternative physiological stimulus.
But all human hungers carry meaning too. So, breakfast is also a ritual. However you prefer to start the day, it doesn'’t start quite right if breakfast isn'’t quite right. Remember the time you stayed in a hotel where they served a 'continental breakfast'. At first, the processed cheese and low fat yoghurt seemed exotic. But somehow they did not hit the spot, as bacon and eggs would.
The point is that we humans don’t just eat food to quell our appetite. For those of us on this planet who have enough to eat, eating is mostly not just a question of satisfying our hunger. We prefer it to be a culinary delight. We also like to do it together. The word 'company' itself is derived from the Latin words meaning bread and together, panis and com: ‘companis’ - company. Hence we have wedding feasts, romantic suppers, birthday parties, celebratory dinners, and breakfast.
The word itself is an amalgam of two words, ‘break’ and ‘fast’. As the first meal of the day, it was the moment when medieval monks broke their overnight fast. Renewed by the night, they could start the day afresh.
And this is what we'll be doing at The School of Life's Breakfast Club. Think of it as waking up not just to tasty food but to nourishing ideas too. We'll be asking what it is to wake up anyway, how to engage with the day, and how to share in the company of others. We'll introduce you to thinkers who stimulate the soul, as the coffee stimulates the body. We are confident you’ll leave with a renewed sense of how to seize the day.
Mark Vernon is part of The School of Life faculty. To find out more about The School of Life’s Breakfast Club click HERE. Breakfast photo by Johanna Neurath.
