A
desert breakfast and a
dessert breakfast must not be
confused, as they could not help but being more different things.
A
desert breakfast would be whatever the lonely
sojourner could possibly
scare up to eat for his morning meal in the
sandy clime of the arid desert. Having been in a desert or two, I can tell you that you'll not find any
pancakes or
coffee lying around, and a
whole grain blueberry muffin is right out.
Water will be your first
priority, and if you are in emergent need of
protein,
ants will do, maybe a roasted
lizard in a pinch (if you're a
vegetarian, you will just have to weigh the
pros and cons of
survival against your
reasons for not eating your fellow
animals). And on the subject of fellow animals, if you happen to be in the deserts of the
American Southwest, where
mountain lions still roam, take care that you don't end up
being someone's desert breakfast!
Now, a
dessert breakfast is something that would not be found in a desert, for it is a dessert that one has for breakfast, or at least something that really ought to be a dessert that is eaten for breakfast.
Bill Cosby once did this bit about how, wanting to give his belabored
wife a break, he offered to fix the
kids breakfast. He asked them what they wanted, and they said "
cake!"; and he thought it over and convinced himself that cake was after all much like bread, and was made with eggs, both of which are breakfasty foods. But when the wife came down and observed this
spectacle, he couldn't find the
words to explain convincingly why it had made
sense at the time to let the kids have cake for breakfast.
A similar
rationale could be made for
ice cream, which is basically
cream with some flavor stuff mixed in and chilled while beaten. Face facts folks, most kids'
breakfast cereals these days are dessert-like in their sheer
sugariness. And have you seen what they're serving at
IHOP these days, with the layers of
whipped cream and
chocolate syrup and what-have-you? As
disgusting as it will likely sound to those acclimated to
modern life, the kids would be healthier having the desert breakfast -- water and ants -- then the
sweets and stuffery that passes for breakfast today.