That of brunch it is a tradition that has its roots firmly in the Anglo-Saxon culture of modern and contemporary Great Britain, only to find wider success - and numerous contaminations - with its affirmation in the United States, starting from the early twentieth century.
What is now a term in common use, namely the brunch as we currently understand it, it owes part of its success to the evolutions it underwent during the twentieth century, well before it fully entered common Western gastronomic culture.
The oldest tradition dates back to Victorian England, from which it seems that the 'discovery' of a meal between 11am and 2pm, and replacement for breakfast and lunch, was derived from the 'hunt breakfast' practiced by landowner hunters (and therefore nobles but also bourgeois) who met on Sundays to dedicate themselves to their predatory hobby.
After leaving very early - and in any case before the canonical time of the common English breakfast - the hunters returned to the property well before the moment in which lunch would normally be served, i.e. 'lunch'.
There hunting breakfast (hunt breakfast) therefore united sweet breakfast foods with the presence of savory meat-based dishes, with a particular predilection for salted meats and offal, at least originally.
The first appearance of the term 'brunch' in the press it is attributed to a text from the end of the nineteenth century, still in Great Britain.
But the relaunch of the modern brunch culture is definitely to be found in its diffusion among the upper class of the urban classes of the large American metropolises, starting from the 1920s.
Between the 1930s and 1950s in the States, brunches were offered by large hotels in the main cities of the country, and were an opportunity for socializing mainly aimed at the wealthy classes of the population.
Among these there were also women, who in conjunction with the Second World War had now made their appearance in the world of work also in professional positions or with managerial positions, at least in the United States and at least up to a certain point.
Once prohibition was over, brunches became an opportunity to start drinking alcohol very early in the day; Sunday brunches in American hotels mark the apotheosis of, among other things, the success of cocktails such as the Bloody Mary, the Bellini and the Mimosa.
The variety of meats present in the Anglo-Saxon tradition - and even more so in the hunting breakfasts held on the landed estates of the London province - was replaced in the States by the - pervasive - presence of bacon.
With the 50s brunch culture opens up to the middle class and therefore moves from the public locations of large hotel chains to the private walls of American families, much more sober; the alcohol disappears and consolidates a domestic culture of 'English' brunch, enriched by the opulence guaranteed by 'fully American' style consumption.
Jams and sweets (i Pancake, or the very famous 'pancakes' of Nonna Duck!) alternate seamlessly with salted butters and the inevitable eggs with bacon.
Only since the 1980s has there been a resurgence in public consumption of brunch, with the rebirth of much more elaborate buffets proposed, once again, by the main hotel chains in the broader metropolitan contexts.
The modern brunch returns to being a moment of public sociality and to seek - in addition to the now 'classic' gastronomic tradition - an offer capable of also arousing new stimuli for the palates of the many who can now choose this particular banquet option.
Here it is at the very end of the twentieth century 'Gusto has chosen to import brunch in Rome, offering itself as an absolute pioneer, both in the revisitation of the most authentic Anglo-Saxon gastronomic tradition and in its role as an original interpreter, in the buffets offered, of the most delicious 'contamination' possible for the English brunch, the one with the Italian gastronomic culture, so full of flavors, so versatile and rich.
As always brunch at 'Gusto it's an opportunity to eat in company, when breakfast is long gone and you want to cheat on lunch with something completely different than usual.
… next Sunday come to Gusto, the first brunch in Rome since 2000…
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