Continental breakfast

Any hotel-goer will be familiar with a certain pastry-centric morning tradition: the continental breakfast. Usually included in the regular room fare, the meal consists of bread-products and sometimes eggs. How did this ubiquitous part of the hotel experience become so widespread? As always, the answer is Britain.

The “continent” in continental breakfast refers to mainland Europe. The meal was intended to be an incarnation of the typical fare of France and the Mediterranean. Hotels began to adopt the food as a more refined alternative to the extremely hearty English breakfast. The lighter pastries and juices offered a refreshing contrast to the meat and beans of the norm. 

This tradition traveled across the pond as the American middle class grew and tourism from Europe rose. Anyone who hadn't thought of the English breakfast as greasy and unhealthy certainly did so of the American breakfast. This European aversion to grease and fat wormed its way into the culture of the elite, making many Americans prefer the continental variant in an effort to appear upper-class.

All of this was wonderful news for the hotel industry. All of these foods have extremely long shelf-lives. The only maintenance they need is to be carted out on a tray for a couple hours each morning. The hospitality industry went on a bit of money-saving high after this development. Soon, most American hotels abandoned the room and board model (where all meals of the day are included in the room price) and looked towards the European model, in which meals are not included at all. The two systems merged into the aptly named "continental model," meaning that a continental breakfast is included, but all other meals are left to the guest. 

Both the culture surrounding the continental breakfast and the underlying economical rationale behind it has made the notoriously free meal a stalwart of travel culture. Understandably though, many can become annoyed with eating a croissant and a tiny blueberry muffin anytime they choose to leave their home. Hopefully, this little tidbit of history will make all those carbs and sugars go down a bit more smoothly.