Food in your daily way of life...

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RDG

Senior Cook
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
223
Location
Milano, Italy
Every country has its own customs, and none of them is better than the others. I’m really curious, if you allow me, to understand how daily meals are organised in your countries.
A lot of things are changed in Italy in the last years, but usually the tradition says that an Italian guy has a breakfast in the morning with some coffee, or milk and coffee, and, but not always, some bread and marmalade. Often (I, f.i.) only coffee is assumed.
At noon (a lot depends from WHEN you have a pause in your job) you will assume a complete meal.
The complete meal is normally composed by a first dish of rice or pasta (about 80-100 gr a person), or soup, and a second dish of meat or fish (about 100 grams) with some vegetable. Then, a fruit.
The same happens in the evening, about at eight o’clock: something earlier in the north, something later in the South.
You can change the meat with some cheese, but generally this is the tradition. In the last years, something has changed, and we try to eat something less, not assuming one of the dish over written (of course, if you are 18 years old, may be you assume ALL of them in ONE meal…. with something to fill the hole at five p.m.:pig: ). When you have an official meal, with some guest, f.i., you add one or more entries to all this, and, of course, some cake.
I remember the Christmas meals in my grandmother’s house….seven, eight entries, two dishes of pasta, one dish of meat…then, an ice cream, and, again, a soup, another dish of fish, many cakes, dried fruit, and so on….
Thanks for your answers: I’ve travelled in some places, about all over Europe, and something in Asia, but I did never go over the Oceans…
 
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Wow. This topic should get very interesting. It's somewhat of a loaded question, simply because of all of the variance in lifestyles. I know some people that rush into a gourmet coffee shop for breakfast, eat some sort of fast food for lunch break, and throw something together quickly at home for supper/dinner. It all depends on time, and how much of it you allot for your daily activities.

A standard work day for me consists of a leisurely breakfast at home of an egg and cheese sandwhich on whole grain bread. This is sometimes accompanied by a bowl of cereal, depending on how big the void is upon return to consciousness. Then I make a cup of coffe to go, with some milk & sugar.

I work close enough that I can go home for lunch, so I usually have something better then fast food. Sometimes a sandwich and chips, or maybe leftover whatever from the night before. I'll sometimes cook some pasta if I have some sauce handy.

Supper is normally something cooked at home as well. Hot dishes/casseroles are fairly common at my house, but we have a reasonable variety of other dishes as well. Usually a meal is a meat, starch/rice, and veggie.

I do not snack much during the day if I can avoid it. If I have a smaller breakfast, I do, just to hold through lunch. I try to eat a larger lunch as supper is usually a bit longer away.

Does that cover what you are looking for?
 
Effectively, a lot depends if you study or work, if you are a single or not, if you have babies or not....
It's impossible to cover all the cases you have. I simply would like to know the "tradition". What is "normal". It's difficult, for me, to explain well: I've already said that my english has big limits....:) . I too use to have some fast food sometimes (my wife works herself, and maybe that none of us can come back home in time), and, effectively, at my age, I eat something less. But my FIL, f.i. eats every day the thigs I've said. And he is 84. My mother the same: 90. Whatever is our own use, this doesn't avoid that, generally, a meal is considered in a certain way. And assumed....once? twice? and when? In Holland, when I went there for the first time, I learned on my skin they practically don't eat at noon: only a little sandwich. I yet remember how much I was hungry that day....:LOL: :LOL: . And, in the morning, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits....all things I left on the table, that day...:mad: :mrgreen: . But I quicly learn: when I went in scandinavian countries, and I saw "smorsgarsbrood" for the first time......No exitation: I ate everything. No one knew if I could have something more, later.....:rolleyes:
 
I also noticed some significant differences depending on certain regions. We were in the north, Alto Adige (amidst Italian Alps, a part of Trentino, Stelvio to be exact)... most people start the day very early and finish the day very early, their average dinner time was like 18, and most of the restaurants were closed around 21, it was quite unbelievable for us coming from a big city. However majority of the people there live on agricultures, so I guess for them, people like us who would regularly eat our suppers at 23 or even midnight must be inconceivable...
Then in Palinuro, south of Naples, all the joints were hopping, people eating well past 1 in the morning, somewhat like the custome of southern Spain, where the restaurant wouldn't open until something like 21...
In Rome, the average lunch time is at 13, instead of midday, and for breakfasts biscuits/cookies, or cornetti (italian version of sweet croissants) are typical items to be eaten.

RDG, I had a little different experience in Holland, people had their main meal for lunch (eetsmakelijk!!) and very light dinner. For a nightowl like me it was quite strange so I remember that very well!! But I spent most of the time in a small city in the west called Zwolle, only a few days in Amsterdam, maybe that was particular to the folks in that region....
 
Here in Germany it is also usual to have meal at lunchtime.
breakfast is bread/rolls with marmalade/jam, honey or cheese/quark. With it coffee or more in the north tea
typical "old fashioned" lunch has a soup, some main dish with mostly potatoes in any variety, some roasted meat and veggies.
evening meal, you can't call it dinner, is again some bread with meat, cheese and maybe pickles. With that comes beer or tea.

but even here today many things are different :)
the world comes togehter and so we adopt things and traditions from lost of different cultures, so everything is possible
 
Here in the UK -I can only speak from my experience!

I eat a breakfast - porridge and toast with home made marmalade in winter during the week, with perhaps an egg at weekends.... toast and orange juice and a banana in the summertime.

Lunch: takeaway sandwich at my desk or a business lunch - which can be a buffet from the Faculty or in a restaurant - but usually a light meal.

Afternoon tea - approx once a week.

Dinner: our main meal of the day.
 
Myself (therefore my family) follow the norm here in Australia, which is almost a carbon copy of Ishbel's...not suprising considering the UK ---> Australia heritage.

My breakfast is generally some form of cereal (whether it be weet-bix/vita-brix, allbran (a high fibre cereal), or some form of porridge or homemade muesli...all of the above with fruit/yoghurt).

For lunch it is generally a sandwich of some variety, but this will also be dictated by whether there are any leftovers from a previous night. But generally it is a fairly light meal (the exception being perhaps a day on the weekend when I'm with my girlfriend, then it might well be either a large breakfast/brunch/lunch (with the other meals adjusting accordingly) whether it is eating in or out. Also, lots of fruit within the day, and maybe a pop round to my local cafe for a coffee (45.3 seconds walk from my house...love it! Oh the fact that it is actually a good cafe is just sweet sweet icing).

I would have nothing against having a main meal at lunch, but it would be hard to make this change due to other members in the household (I am currently unemployed so I would have the luxury of doing this, but other members of my household work during the day so their lunch is dictated by work and personal eating habits).

Dinner, like Ishbel's situation, is the main meal of the day since it is most likely the only meal in which the household all share together (breakfast doesn't particularly count, especially with young children since it is generally a mad dash to the finish line). This is mainly dictated, I think, by each culture's attitude towards work. Is it common for workers in Italy, for example, to return home from work for lunch? This would make it easier to make lunch a larger focal point, meal and gathering wise, where in countries like UK/Australia (and the US I assume) workers do not generally return home until the end of the day.
 
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In the Philippines, it's traditional to have rice at every meal.

Here's a typical breakfast -

Fried fish, or adobo, or corned beef, or local sausages, or local cured meats
Rice in garlic (or fried in adobo sauce)
Egg (sunny side-up, or whole salted/preserved egg served with fresh tomatoes)
Typical condiments at the table are: fish sauce, vinegar, bird's eye chili.

Lunch & Dinner are always serious meals -

Steamed Rice with anything, typically 2 types of meat dishes and a vegetable dish. Soup.

Things are changing with the times. For breakfast, single working people just have coffee or nothing at all for breakfast. But if they have a maid or wife who doesn't work, then they get the works for breakfast and dinner. Lunch is usually in the office cafeteria or street corner restaurant. Even housewives and mothers are adjusting to the times. More and more, they reach for the convenience of processed foods like hotdogs, canned goods, instant noodles. Hopefully this will change with increasing awareness of unhealthy foods.
 
The Chinese (from the southern part of China) traditionally have rice at every meal. For breakfast however, it's usually in the form of porridge, with side dishes of pickled vegetables, fermented bean curd, peanuts. Lunch and dinner are always serious meals with rice, a fish dish, a meat dish, a vegetable dish, maybe a soup. Snacks are typically buns with sweet or savory fillings, dumplings, or noodles. Chinese banquets are a different story altogether. They are usually 8 to 12 course feasts where people sit at round tables with a lazy susan. The first dish is usually cold cuts or warm appetizers, soup, then progresses to various elaborate entrees, from mushrooms, to various meats, to various seafood, with fried rice or noodles, with vegetables as accompaniment to most dishes. Then dessert.

The Thais love to eat. At any time of the day. As evidenced by the countless food stalls at most side streets in Bangkok, from morning 'til night. Breakfast can be simple affairs of noodles/rice, while lunch and dinner are always serious meals with several entrees with rice. They are serious snackers too, by most standards. And their snacks can range from something as simple as fresh fruits with sour condiments, or deep fried fish/shrimp cakes or grilled sausages or fish, or barbecued meats, or one-dish or one-bowl affairs such as rice topped with chicken, or fried rice with shrimp and various condiments, or fried noodles with shrimp/vegetables, or noodles in soup with fishballs/dumplings. It's a wonder they have any space in their tummies left for dinner!
 
Philippines breakfast:

From top, clockwise: pineapple juice, pumelo (hard to see), grapes, pineapple, papaya, rice, pandesal bread, boiled eggs, smoked fish, longanisa sausage, and tomatoes.

We also often had leftover dinner or breakfast.
img_234148_0_94fd638bce66d272ecaf423a74eca1e1.jpg
 
Whoa, you guys really have a feast for the breakfast!! It surely will give you a kick for the day better than any Wheaties!!:LOL:

Sorry if I go off the track for a moment... You just awaken my old memories from some years ago, at some Phillipino community fair they had this treat, looked and tasted very much like slim eggrolls (or spring rolls)...forgive me if I am wrong I think they were called something like "loomphie" or "lumfy"... they were absolutely delicious... does anyone, Anau or Chopstix, know what I am talking about? If you do, is there any recipe available? TIA!!
 
Philippines....I never went there, but I must do....I want your breakfast!!!!:pig: :pig: :pig: :LOL: I was in Bangkok for a few days, but just for job, and they brought me always in a japanese restourant...very good, indeed, but I'd have preferred a lot to eat on the roads...
Interesting, in every way....It seems to me that anglosaxon culture is less interested in food than the others, don't you think so? Or so this appears from your answers.
For Haggis: also in Italy a lot of workers are not able to come back home for lunch, and this is the reason for which I was speaking of "tradition". In every way, even so, a lot of us try to eat something different from a sandwich (if it's possible). A lot of... bars (correct?) offers a big variety of warm and cold dishes, that we usually assume at table. Moreover, really many restautants, even important, have a "business lunch" only at noon, for a easy cost (from 8 to 12 Euro -10-15 USD about) ALL always composed by a first dish (pasta or similar) second dish (meat and vegetables) bread, coffee, 1/4 wine or mineral water, in a reasonable choice. If you think that in a bar a beer is 3 euro, a sandwich 3,5, and a coffee 80 cents.....At least in Milano.
 
I hardly think that your comments re AngloSaxons being less interested in food can be levelled at this group - or they wouldn't post.

I think that you have is the difference between the working practices of various parts of the world. Northern Europeans traditionally do not like to 'split' their working day by spending two hours or more EVERY day eating... We do not have the tradition of taking siestas. We are also conscious that eating large lunches can often make one 'sleepy' during the afternoon, hence the enviable tradition for southern Europeans of sleeping it off for an hour or so... would that our working days allowed this.:cool:
 
Ishbel said:
I hardly think that your comments re AngloSaxons being less interested in food can be levelled at this group - or they wouldn't post.

I think that you have is the difference between the working practices of various parts of the world. Northern Europeans traditionally do not like to 'split' their working day by spending two hours or more EVERY day eating... We do not have the tradition of taking siestas. We are also conscious that eating large lunches can often make one 'sleepy' during the afternoon, hence the enviable tradition for southern Europeans of sleeping it off for an hour or so... would that our working days allowed this.:cool:
I'm really sorry if something I've said has been interpreted as something AGAINST some other: if it was so, please, accept my excuses.I only mean that "from your answers" it seemed a different (different, not bad or worse) interest in food. As I was sure to have explained, I'm trying to "understand" the differences and "to learn" them. In doing this, I try to ask, and, in the same way, I try to listen. So, sorry again.
For example, is interesting in the same way what you think about siesta, two hours eating, or the sleeping time of an hour. It's only a curiosity, please, be sure that there is no polemical intent in this...:) From where this convintion arrives? A lot of times I heard similar things, and I had never understood why. I meant that working times are a thing, and "tradition" is another. Of course, if you are working far from your home, is impossible that you can come back. In the same way, if you are a single, is difficult that every day you cook for yourself only, a complete meal.
And, at the end, I asked YOU my question just because this is a forum of people interested in food. Otherwise, be sure I would not have been here:) :) ( all the times I use complex gramatical forms, I'm in fear that you all are laughing as crazy people....:LOL: :LOL: :) :) )
 
I hardly think that your comments re AngloSaxons being less interested in food can be levelled at this group - or they wouldn't post.

I don't think 'interested' was the word RDG was looking for, perhaps 'orientated' would be the more suitable word. I can see where he is coming from. We love to eat, but as a whole the cultures of Australia, America and the UK have a different (and perhaps, dare I say, not as good) view of both food and eating.

I think that the fact that a large majority of the population still eats or drinks at McDonalds/Pizza Hut/Burger King/Starbucks etc etc provides probably the biggest benchmark.

Or it could be that you walk down a supermarket isle (or into the average home's pantry) and you will most likely find an abundance of pre-packaged or pre-processed meals or meal aides. Especially for things which really need no pre-preparation. Now, I'm not talking about spice mixes, stock, tinned tomatoes or spice pastes, but entire meals (or side dishes) that come out of a foil packet with the exception of perhaps the key ingredient.

Another key point which I have thought of is the act of shopping. Can those from different cultures other than UK/US/Australia (such as RDG, Chopstix etc) answer a question for me? When you go shopping for fruit and vegetables, is everything labeled what it is? (I am not talking Asian vegetables being labeled in Italy, but local produce being labeled e.g. a vegetable seller in Italy labelling a zucchini as 'zucchini') I hope I have made the question clear, I'm interested in the reply.

The Chinese (from the southern part of China) traditionally have rice at every meal. For breakfast however, it's usually in the form of porridge, with side dishes of pickled vegetables, fermented bean curd, peanuts.

Is that (the porridge) congee? I have been meaning to try it someday, it looks delicious.
 
You may want to take a poll on here of about how many eat at Mickey D's. I haven't been there in ages.
 
well said haggis.

i wish we could all take it easy on those of us with limited knowledge of others language, and history, and the policies of the website herein.
many times i could have jumped in to correct, quite rudely it would have been, the spelling, grammar, and overall knowledge of the things that have been posted (as often as mine is flawed). but then i wouldn't be much of a helpful and friendly member, but rather a jerk who showed up just to be righteous and to prove to myself what i already know.

ish, unless you can trace your heritage to germany prior to 400 a.d. or your family is strictly from wessex, i don't understand why you would take umbrage to a mention of the anglo saxons. i mean, yes, they helped discard pervading/invading roman culture, replacing it with a germanic language that eventually became english, they slowly were changed by scandinavian influences until around 1066, and then by more scandinavian influences after the normans.
us scandinavians are some sneaky folks...

and if you go back far enough, we're all from pangea.

and don't worry rdg, ishbel is purely scot. proud in the face of my western culture's ignorance over many things scottish, so a rebellion here and there is to be expected. it's just the blue and white face paint and men wearing skirts that freaks us out.

ish, pm me to tell me to bugger off...
 
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I really dont know anything about traditional eating habits here in America. I think it typically depends on what area of the country one is from. I eat three meals per day....breakfast, lunch, dinner. I make home made food, meaning I do not often get take out fast foods.

I really just cook/eat whatever we are in the mood to eat. Our biggest meal is dinner (between 6-8pm), which usually consists of a meat (beef, chicken, pork), a starch such as potatoes or rice, and a vegetable. I love seafood so I make that alot, and love pasta with marinara sauce, garlic bread, and salad.
 
urmaniac13 said:
Whoa, you guys really have a feast for the breakfast!! It surely will give you a kick for the day better than any Wheaties!!:LOL:

Sorry if I go off the track for a moment... You just awaken my old memories from some years ago, at some Phillipino community fair they had this treat, looked and tasted very much like slim eggrolls (or spring rolls)...forgive me if I am wrong I think they were called something like "loomphie" or "lumfy"... they were absolutely delicious... does anyone, Anau or Chopstix, know what I am talking about? If you do, is there any recipe available? TIA!!

The people who served us that breakfast are retired and have a really good cook so they tend to eat a lot!

I think your thinking of "lumpia". I actually don't eat a lot of lumpia so I'm not sure what all is in it.
 
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Haggis
I have only ever been in MCdonalds TWICE in my lifetime. Frankly, the first time was enough, but I went again with a friend and our children. My daughter refused to eat the food. She was 6 or so - we've never been back!

Buckytom
I'm not taking umbrage about being called an AngloSaxon - merely at the blanket assumption that those of us of Northern European background (whether Saxon, Celt, Briton, Viking or Goth) have little interest in food. I refute that.... our foods have been taken all over the world by our emigrants...

RDG - I have lived and travelled in Southern Europe since the 50s. I can only speak from personal experience. In Malta, for instance. Shops close shortly after 12 noon and then open again at 4 until 8.00 pm. In the UK, traditionally businesses open at 9.00 am and have 50 minutes or one hour for lunch and then finish at 5.00 or 5.30 or even 6.00 pm.

I'm not saying that OUR way is right and others' ways are wrong - just different.:cool:
 
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