In the week, nearly everybody has a certain time frame in which they usually eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And most people you know probably share roughly the same meal times. But have you ever thought about the fact that other countries and cultures might have totally different meal times? In Germany, breakfast time doesn‘t differ that much from in the US, as most people still eat before school. But when it comes to lunch and dinner, German meal times can be totally different. But not only the times differ but also the typical types of meal differs from what is normal for people in the US.
Although breakfast is still eaten before school in Germany, the type of breakfast can be very different. In the US a typical breakfast consists of pancakes, eggs, muffins, bacon, sausages or just cereal. Most people in Germany eat bread or bread rolls with cheese, ham, sausage slices, chocolate cream or jam as their breakfast. If they want to save time they eat cereal too but normally they eat bread. On the weekend, people sometimes add eggs and bacon but it is very uncommon to have pancakes or sausages for breakfast.
When it comes to lunch, the German word includes the time that it is eaten: Mittagessen. In German, Mittag means noon, which is the time between 12 and 2 pm. Most people have their lunch after school or before the afternoon school on long days. For most people, that is around 1:30 pm, as schools end at 1:15 and lunch break begins then. My school has a little different system, so we end at either 12:40 or 2 pm. Because I need about an hour to get home with the bus, I usually have lunch around 2 or even at 3 pm. Although Germans also have a warm lunch, they wait for their lunch about two hours more than people at Eastern, who have their lunch between 11 am and 12 pm.
In the US, the usual dinner is a warm meal around 6:00 or 6:30 pm. Although that might not be true for everyone, that norm is very different from the typical German dinner. Most Germans have their dinner after 7 pm or later, although some people have dinner earlier too. Over half of the people in Germany once again have bread, similar to their breakfast. Due to working people having dinner as their second meal, a good amount of people started to have a warm dinner, the traditional dinner still is a cold meal in Germany.
My family still has very traditional meals and I haven’t had lunch in school until I got into the US. We eat bread for breakfast and most dinners, and I truly miss my bread. It isn’t a great tasting meal, but it became a tradition for me. But I also like having another warm meal, as the lunch here is far too early for me. To be completely honest, I can’t tell which I like more. But I hope this gave you a first impression how meals in Germany are.
