How could you call that complete? Where were the bacon and eggs? The toast and cereal? The fresh fruit? ‘Complet’? Basically it was the above, but with croissants as well as bread. The first time I saw this menu description in a hotel, I was outraged. Add in a glass of orange juice and maybe a yoghurt, and you get what the French call ‘petit déjeuner complet’. The typical French breakfast, the one we always called ‘continental’ traditionally consists of a bowl of café au lait, a fresh baguette sliced in half and spread with butter and jam. Why not enjoy your favourite thing every day? So for most of my adult life, and with a few rare exceptions like travelling and having guests over, my p’tit déj is served each morning, by moi, in bed. Not the stuffy old newspaper that my dad used to hide behind for hours over the breakfast table, but whatever book currently had me in its grip.įrom there I soon decided to shift the whole operation back to bed.Īt first breakfast in bed was just on weekends. That means you decide what, when and where you have breakfast.Īs someone who reads a lot, I figured out early on that one of life’s great pleasures was eating breakfast while reading. First of all, it is is eaten as soon as you wake up (at least for me). Le petit déjeuner, often shortened in spoken French to ‘le petit déj’ or just ‘p’tit déj’ has a lot to love.

Breakfast has always been my favourite meal.

Dej loaf try me slowed