What a fun book! This young, hip (and at the same time, nostalgic) collection of memoir-ish food essays, trivia, techniques and recipes is an exploration of breakfast that delighted my armchair-cook self … and then inspired my actual-cook self into the kitchen. My favorite essay is by Heidi Julavits, about her early eccentricities including loving soup for breakfast. The most appealing recipe is the tater-tot-crust quiche; the least appealing (but so interesting!) is almost every entry in the “Regional Meats” chapter (goetta, headcheese, souse, scrapple, livermush … I could go on!).

There is no nutritional info, nor prep-time info, because this is life and you’ll eat what you want and it’ll be ready when it is. There are lots of color photographs and they tend toward hectic rather than gorgeously styled, also just like real life. As the editors write: It’s a Breakfast Jamboree!

(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.) ( )