The Beauty of Brunch by Susan Campbell The all-you-can-eat brunch buffet is a culinary cornucopia that can make any Sunday a superbly special occasion.
Brunch beginnings Have you ever wondered how breakfast collided with lunch to evolve into this midday extravaganza we call brunch? On Aruba, the all-inclusive Sunday buffet was introduced by American visitors, but “brunching” is actually a British innovation. Though Sunday brunch really took root in North America in the 1930s, the concept originated in Europe in the 1800s. In fact, the word “brunch” (the blend of the terms breakfast and lunch) was first coined in 1895 by Guy Beringer, a British writer who penned an article in Hunter’s Weekly magazine entitled “Brunch: A Plea”. He pleaded for the introduction of a new meal that began around noon to replace the early, heavy after-church Sunday repast so as to make life brighter for “Saturday-night carousers”. He also predicted that brunch would“sweep away the cobwebs and 8
the worries of the week”. His plea seems to have been heard, as evidenced by an article that appeared a year later in the British magazine Punch that stated “to be fashionable nowadays we must ‘brunch’”. Through the ages, the freedom to partake in feasts of bacchanalian proportions at a leisurely pace was a privilege reserved for the most affluent. But as the average family income increased, the practice eventually extended to the middle classes where the ability to put out lavish, eclectic spreads for Sunday guests became a symbol of spiraling status. As cosmopolitan hotels and restaurants in America began serving it, going out for brunch became an opportunity for friends and family to gather and a perfect way to give women a break from their domestic duties, especially on Mother’s Day. 왘 Top photo by Kelly Cline. Facing page photo by John Keith