What does the English breakfast share with the Spanish breakfast that it doesn’t with other European breakfasts?

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what we consider to be “breakfast food” varies remarkably across the planet. In Japan for instance,soup, rice and boiled fish are three things most Westerners would never consider to be morning fare. American breakfast pancakes or waffles are rarely consumed outside North American homes first thing, save in trendy cafes or eateries.

In Germany heavy dark bread, cheese and cold meats are often considered standard stuff to start the day with, while in Scandinavia cod roe paste may be spread on toast rather than jam or chocolate spread.

As a boy I once witnessed a French exchange student cover a slice of sponge cake with Nutella and dip it into a bowl of milky hot chocolate, which was a far cry from the boring bowl of milk and breakfast cereal washed down with a cup of tea (milk and two sugars) that I consumed every morning in the 1980s. 

But since those distant days, breakfast in the UK has become far more international and a bowl of muesli and yoghurt speckled with a few berries is hardly the exotic delight it was considered a few decades ago. French croissants, American bagels and muffins, Colombian coffee and even olives from various Mediterranean countries have also found their place at the contemporary British breakfast table, relegating the Traditional English (Greasy Cooked) Breakfast to an occasional weekend treat or traditional hangover cure for visitors who have stayed the night.

Not that the traditional fry-up had ever really been an everyday English breakfast, at least not to those who don’t live in hotels. 

Of course, the smoked Scottish kippers and porridge still hold their appeal to those living in the colder areas of the country or during the miserable winter months, while hot buttered toast whether coupled with marmalade or jam will never go out of style (although the bread these days is probably a bit healthier than 70s housewives’ favourite Mother’s Pride). 

And what of the typical Spanish morning meal? Café con leche and toasted bread with oil and tomato? A large mug of Cola-Cao with unstirrable chocolate lumps? A carajillo? A swiftly-downed glass of brandy?

All these things to break the ten or more hours our body has been fasting, that long self-imposed gap between the last meal of one day and the first of the next.

Because the word BREAKFAST has nothing to do with fast the adjective, but with fast the NOUN.

And FAST the noun translates into Spanish as AYUNO.

When you eat your morning meal you BREAK your FAST by eating again.

Just as in Spanish you say DES-AYUNO. Although without the hyphen.

Of course, FAST has this similar meaning as a verb too. Muslims fast during Ramadan, eating before sunrise and then fasting for the rest of the day, only to break their fast after sunset.

So this is what the English and Spanish breakfast have in common… nothing to do with calories or healthy eating!

In French breakfast is a "small lunch", and Italian and Portuguese words have similar meanings.
In German it is an "early piece".
In Norwegian and Swedish it is literally an "early meal", while in Danish it is "morning food".

But both in English and Spanish the meal breaks a fast… and now you know.