Brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch. The term is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch. Often, it is a heavy meal meant to take the place of both breakfast and lunch. While common in the United States and Canada, according to Punch magazine, the term was introduced in Britain around 1896 by Hunter’s Weekly, then becoming student slang.Other sources claim that the term was invented by New York Morning Sun reporter Frank Ward O’Malley based on the typical mid-day eating habits of a newspaper reporter.
A meal cannot be considered brunch if it is started before 10 am, such meals would still be considered breakfast. Typically brunch is had at around 11 am, close to lunch time but still before. Some colleges and hostels serve brunch, especially on Sundays and holidays. Such brunches are often serve-yourself buffets, but menu-ordered meals may be available instead of, or with, the buffet. The meal usually involves standard breakfast foods such as eggs, sausages, bacon, ham, fruits, pastries, pancakes, and the like. However, it can include almost any other type of food served throughout the day. Buffets may have quiche, large roasts of meat or poultry, cold seafood like shrimp and smoked fish, salads, soups, vegetable dishes, many types of bread stuffs, and desserts of all sorts.
Brunch meals are prepared by restaurants and hotels for special occasions, such as weddings, Valentine’s or Mother’s Day. Although brunch can be served any day of the week, it has become a popular meal on Sundays at restaurants. Indeed, brunch was originally conceived as a Sunday meal.
Second breakfast is a meal eaten after breakfast, but before lunch. It is traditional in Bavaria, and in Poland. In Bavaria or Poland, special dishes are made exclusively to be eaten during second breakfast. In Vienna and most other parts of Austria the Second Breakfast is referred to as Jause. It is typical to eat four to five meals a day in these locations.
