In France, the most common coffee choice is café au lait, served in a large ceramic bowl, although, of course, there are those who opt for other beverages, say black coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Similarly, in Italy, the choice is most likely to be cappuccino, caffe nero, tè, or latte al cacao. In both cases, the bread is usually a croissant, brioche, or slice of toast, served with butter and preserves.

Spain is the country responsible for bringing chocolate from the New World to Europe, and she reflects her culinary and colonial history in the fact that chocolate is a more common beverage for adults there than in other countries. One popular and indulgent breakfast combination is chocolate con churros; thick hot chocolate served with a sort of deep-fried tubular doughnut coated with cinnamon sugar. Aficionados dunk the churro into the chocolate before each bite.

In Catalan, olive country, bread is often served with olive oil instead of butter, and a favorite breakfast treat is pan con tomate, an ancestor of the American pizza. It is made by brushing a thick, crusty slice of grilled bread with olive oil, garlic, tomato, and (sometimes) topping it with a slice of ham. Fried eggs and omelets are also popular.

IRELAND
A proper full Irish breakfast is known as a "fry," which gives some hint of how meat-oriented it is likely to be (although fried bread might be served). White and black puddings are frequent additions to the array of meats already mentioned. There may also be Irish soda bread, a slightly sweet, white-flour bread that is raised with baking soda, rather than yeast, and includes a liberal sprinkling of golden and brown raisins.

SCOTLAND
Scottish contributions to the breakfast table in the British Isles include oatcakes, scones, and Arbroath smokies. Scones are very much like biscuits and are traditionally cut into wedge shapes before baking. Oatcakes, also called bannocks, are made with a mixture of oat and barley flour, then baked on a griddle. Scots are, if possible, even a little better known for eating oatmeal in the morning than the British or the Irish; popular additions to morning porridge are sugar, cream, and black treacle. Arbroath smokies are made of small haddock that are gutted, then tied together in pairs and either salted or pickled in brine before being smoked over a peat fire. They are eaten with with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of black pepper, accompanied by brown bread and butter.

WALES
The unusual, and traditional, Welsh additions to the breakfast table are laverbread and cockles. Laverbread is an edible seaweed that is gathered from the rocky shores of the southern coast of Wales. It might be served as an added ingredient in porridge, mixed with oatmeal and fried into a sort of griddlecake, or served plain like spinach. Cockles are bivalves similar to mussels or clams, and, in the morning, are often served fried.

Rösti potatoes are another typically Swiss breakfast choice. Otherwise, the food selections are similar to Germany's -- tea, coffee, hot chocolate, milk, sliced bread, meats, and eggs.

Breakfast beverages also proliferate in Turkey. Tea, usually served in glasses not teacups, is made in a device that is just like a double boiler; it keeps the tea hot without allowing it to boil. The Turks say this accounts for its lack of bitterness. There is also, of course, the famous Turkish coffee. It is made by boiling very fine coffee grounds (sometimes flavored with cardamom or other spices) in a container called a jezve. The coffee is sweetened to varying degrees according to a specific system, and served black, in tiny cups. Ayran is a simple drink made of yogurt and water, lightly salted. During the winter, many people drink sahlep: hot, sweet milk flavored with orchid root powder and a sprinkle of cinnamon, a beverage that is also considered to be a cold remedy.

Huevos rancheros is only one of a number of egg-based dishes, many of which are local specialties. On the Yucatan peninsula, huevos motuleños -- eggs in the style of town of Motul -- are a popular choice. The dish is made by spreading refried beans onto fresh tortillas, then adding a fried egg or two, chopped ham, peas, and cheese.

In Argentina, one orders cafe con leche only in the mornings. By the afternoon, those who like their coffee with milk switch to cortados, which contain a little less of it. Another Argentine breakfast beverage is the submarino, which is a glass of steamed milk with a bittersweet chocolate bar melted into it.

Many people follow up their light, early breakfasts with a midmorning snack. In Bolivia this snack might be something like salteñas. These are small, oval pastries that are filled with a juicy mixture of meats, peas, potatoes, chopped hard-boiled eggs, raisins, and olives.

In Singapore, many choose a rice dish made with coconut milk and fish, nasi lemak. Thais eat a rice gruel similar to Chinese congee; this might be further enriched by stirring raw egg into the hot liquid so that it poaches. In the Philippines, Western style breakfasts are at least as common as the traditional fish and rice, reflecting their years as a Spanish colony.

Although tea is drunk more often on the whole, in the south of India, coffee is the caffeine provider of choice. Many people buy the beans raw and roast them at home. Popular foods include appam (thin, crepe-like rice pancakes that are often filled with spiced meat or potatoes and vegetables), idi-appam (rice noodles eaten with either sweet coconut milk or a meat curry), idli (small steamed cakes made with a lightly fermented batter of rice and split peas) and puttu (crushed rice and coconut pressed in alternating layers into a bamboo mold, then steamed and served with bananas and milk).

Far to the north, in Kashmir, the day starts particularly early, so the first meal is usually a quick cup of tea with some bread. Kashmiris drink a green tea, which they make in a samovar. The tea may be drunk plain, but if possible, sugar, cardamom and ground almonds are added to make a concoction known as kahva. Many of the breads that are eaten in Kashmir are, like the samovar for the tea, more related to Middle Eastern cuisines than Indian. They are leavened wheat breads, among them are the slightly sweet bakirkhani and the sesame-sprinkled tsachvaru.