Cultural eating habits - tell us about yours

This thread is fascinating, and now I'm hungry!!

Midwest US here...

Weekday Breakfast: Oatmeal or cereal
Weekend breakfast: Pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage

Weekday lunch: Soup, sandwich, frozen meal, fast food burger and fries
Weekend lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches/burgers

Weekday Dinner: Chicken or fish with a carb and a veggie (steamed)
Weekend dinner: Same as weekday, but in larger portions and with beer!

You're missing the casseroles

I'm from Missouri so not Southern or Northern...but I can definitely relate to the attitude about food! Very similar here.

And ketchup is a big thing in my circle of family/friends as well. They put it on meat, eggs, slather it on burgers and even some sandwiches. I am not a huge ketchup fan but I do actually love it in my brown bean "soup" and on green beans.

I got used to ketchup on eggs while in the Navy (powdered scrambled eggs are disgusting- anything to hide the taste) but can NOT get over ketchup on steak. Whenever I'm at a nice steak house and I see someone dipping their $30 steak in ketchup, I'm softly screaming "Noooooooooo!" in anguish inside my head.

I grew up in Maryland - in the DC/NoVA Metro Area and meals were pretty simple:

Weekday Breakfast: Cold Cereal with Milk
Weekday Lunch: Sandwich (generally PB&J on white bread), a cookie, and milk from a carton
Weekday Dinner: Whatever Mom could throw together in less than 30 mins - usually fish sticks w/fries, Hamburger Helper, the list goes on and on of horrible foods

Weekend Breakfast: Sat more Cold Cereal with Milk or toast instead if we wanted to make it ourselves
Weekend Lunch: Grab & Go, more sandwiches and snacks
Weekend Dinners: Tuna Noodle Casserole, Roasted Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, etc.

Holidays were when Mom actually cooked a decent meal - dessert & soda's only came during those holidays; instead Lipton Tea Mix, Milk and Kool-Aid were staples in our house for drinking.

Now as an adult I live in Southeastern NC and while the culture is vastly different in terms of food I've brought a lot of my childhood foods with me my kids get either Cold Cereal w/Milk, A frozen Aunt Jemima Breakfast, Pop Tarts or Toast w/Peanut Butter on it, while I east Oatmeal during the week and scrambled egg whites w/wheat toast on the weekends. The kids will sometimes request pancakes, waffles, or eggs for weekend breakfast and I'll oblige.

Weekday Lunches consist of a sandwich for the kids w/a snack (usually cookies, chips, popcorn or pretzels) and a fruit w/a Juice Box; my lunch varies day to day but is usually a sandwich, salad, fruit, pita chips w/hummus, and more fruit w/Water

Weekend Lunch is usually for them leftover Pizza from Friday night, or something out of can, or even a Kid Cuisine Meal - while I'll have a 1/2 Ham & Cheese Sandwich with Salad and Fruit or Pita Chips/Hummus and Fruit.

Weekday Dinners are no different than our weekend dinners - just that I go for the simpler versions during the week, usually a protein, a starch, a veggie/fruit (depending on the protein) and a bread. Sometimes I'll even make breakfast foods for dinner (waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc.)

A hodge podge of foods honestly

Not sure if I missed it, but I figured I'd throw in some Salvadorean culture

Breakfast: Eggs, refried beans, fried plantain, crema, hard cheese and fresh corn tortillas.... COFFEE (all day everyday)!!!

Lunch: Usually soup (fish soup, beef bone soup) and corn tortillas

Dinner: Heavy stuff-- Pupusas, tamales, rice and beans, always crema and hard cheese

And some lovely sweet breads to dip in coffee are always a must!

This isn't an everyday thing for us since we live in Canada, but I can say this would be a traditional day of nomminess if I am visiting my mom's place!

I grew up in Texas and one thing I miss the most is frito pie :brokenheart:

Not sure if I missed it, but I figured I'd throw in some Salvadorean culture

Breakfast: Eggs, refried beans, fried plantain, crema, hard cheese and fresh corn tortillas.... COFFEE (all day everyday)!!!

Lunch: Usually soup (fish soup, beef bone soup) and corn tortillas

Dinner: Heavy stuff-- Pupusas, tamales, rice and beans, always crema and hard cheese

And some lovely sweet breads to dip in coffee are always a must!

This isn't an everyday thing for us since we live in Canada, but I can say this would be a traditional day of nomminess if I am visiting my mom's place!

I grew up in Texas and one thing I miss the most is frito pie :brokenheart:

Frito pie! That is a very BIG thing in my area (Joplin, Missouri) as is "spaghetti red" (spaghetti with a certain type of chili on top which is somewhat watery with very finely ground meat).

Love this thread!

I'm from France - Paris suburbs.

Breakfast was typically croissants, cereal, or toast with jam (although my brother got a nutella sandwich every morning for years). Sometimes eggs.
No morning snack, although a lot of people I worked with would have coffee and a croissant mid morning.
Lunch - if in a rush, a baguette sandwich, otherwise it's pretty much a real meal - meat, veggies, some carbs etc. And cheese and dessert of course. I don't know anyone who's ever packed their lunch. A lot of workplaces have cafeterias and otherwise smaller companies give people meal coupon so they eat for free at local restaurants.
Goûter at 4pm - usually 'biscuits' (cookies), or puddings/yogurt or more croissants (most adults don't eat that meal as far as I know).
Apéritif - around 7pm, when you have guests - cocktails and nuts, pretzels, goldfish and other salty snacks
Dinner at 8pm - same as lunch

But I haven't lived there for 12 years so who knows what they're doing now. The food itself was not that different, except I ate a lot of croissants, we don't have those birthday cakes like here (typically they are fancier cakes with no icing), sandwiches typically come on a baguette (so more like subs I guess), portions are smaller. They also have a HUGE selection of yogurts and refrigerated puddings compared to the US. Seriously, it's insane. And I miss that the most. And cheese always comes before dessert... we always had a plate dedicated to cheese in the fridge.

I'm American and in my 30's. When I was growing up in the Midwest basically everyone I knew ate like this, except for a handful of people I knew who ate "weird healthy food" and that really just meant a lot more variety in their salads and huge glasses of whole milk for children & preteens at dinnertime.

Breakfast:
Pop Tarts, Toaster Strudel (frozen pastry with a packet of frosting to squeeze on top after toasting), or sugary breakfast cereal with milk.
For "health nuts", a less sugary cereal (Cheerio's or Kix for example) with skim or lowfat milk.

Lunch:
School lunch like turkey & noodles, canned peas, a huge yeast roll, and strawberry gelatin with bits of canned pineapple inside, and a carton of chocolate 2% milk.
OR
Wonder (white) bread with bologna, cheese & mustard, small bag of Doritos, and a Kudos bar (glorified chocolate bar) and a juice box

Dinner:
Hamburger Helper, salad of iceberg lettuce with chopped tomato and ranch dressing, slice of cake (from a mix) for dessert
OR
3-4 slices of pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut
OR
chili on top of spaghetti, frozen peas, big slice of garlic bread and a Dr. Pepper

Pretty horrendous.

Perfect! (I lived a bit further north than you though) We never had anything but sugar cereal for breakfast; pop tarts were expensive and Toaster Strudel didn't exist yet. Very occasionally on weekends, a "treat" like waffles, pancakes, french toast or eggs and bacon.

Don't forget those nasty fried "burritos" they put in school lunches! (and Kudos were not invented yet when I was a kid-- my sack lunch was a baloney and "cheese" on white bread with Miracle Whip, maybe an apple or fruit rollup, and Kool-Aid in my thermos) That's pretty spot-on though.

My dad was an a-hole and made my mom fry chicken almost every night though (pork chops or ham patties and *very* occasionally meat spaghetti otherwise), usually corn or green beans from a can, mashed potatoes and if we had dessert, probably jello or pudding.

I'm American and in my 30's. When I was growing up in the Midwest basically everyone I knew ate like this, except for a handful of people I knew who ate "weird healthy food" and that really just meant a lot more variety in their salads and huge glasses of whole milk for children & preteens at dinnertime.

Breakfast:
Pop Tarts, Toaster Strudel (frozen pastry with a packet of frosting to squeeze on top after toasting), or sugary breakfast cereal with milk.
For "health nuts", a less sugary cereal (Cheerio's or Kix for example) with skim or lowfat milk.

Lunch:
School lunch like turkey & noodles, canned peas, a huge yeast roll, and strawberry gelatin with bits of canned pineapple inside, and a carton of chocolate 2% milk.
OR
Wonder (white) bread with bologna, cheese & mustard, small bag of Doritos, and a Kudos bar (glorified chocolate bar) and a juice box

Dinner:
Hamburger Helper, salad of iceberg lettuce with chopped tomato and ranch dressing, slice of cake (from a mix) for dessert
OR
3-4 slices of pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut
OR
chili on top of spaghetti, frozen peas, big slice of garlic bread and a Dr. Pepper

Pretty horrendous.

Perfect! (I lived a bit further north than you though) We never had anything but sugar cereal for breakfast; pop tarts were expensive and Toaster Strudel didn't exist yet. Very occasionally on weekends, a "treat" like waffles, pancakes, french toast or eggs and bacon.

Don't forget those nasty fried "burritos" they put in school lunches! (and Kudos were not invented yet when I was a kid-- my sack lunch was a baloney and "cheese" on white bread with Miracle Whip, maybe an apple or fruit rollup, and Kool-Aid in my thermos) That's pretty spot-on though.

My dad was an a-hole and made my mom fry chicken almost every night though (pork chops or ham patties and *very* occasionally meat spaghetti otherwise), usually corn or green beans from a can, mashed potatoes and if we had dessert, probably jello or pudding.

lol...I'm glad you could relate (and a bit sorry for you too hehe). But we're the same age (within a year) so I think Kudos and Toaster Strudel did exist ;-)

Lunch...I almost forgot about thermoses. Filled with Kool-Aid, Hawaiian Punch, or super salty Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup of course...in your plastic or metal character themed lunchbox! hehe

I remember being jealous of a friend of mine because her packed lunches always included a can of regular Coke (I was drinking diet by age 6), kiwifruit (EXOTIC to my 1980s child self) and string cheese. I thought string cheese was the best thing EVER!

Chiming in from New Jersey, USA!

**Disclaimer - I was not born here! My husband was, and he was dumbfounded when I didn't know what it was.**

Taylor Ham, or Pork Roll, if you will. (But really - Taylor Ham.) It's really super spiced pork roll, and it's the most amazing thing ever made for breakfast. Even better than bacon, IMO. EVERYWHERE serves it. But of course, it's super unhealthy, haha. You fry it up and toss it in a breakfast sandwich or just eat it plain, but it's sooo good. (If you get super lucky and find it outside NJ, near the bacon, try it. You won't regret it as a treat.)

Or fish on Friday cause ages ago loads of fish was going to waste so the government banned meat on Fridays.

Really?! Because I always assumed the tradition of fish on Fridays was a throwback to the days when religion ruled people's daily lives right down to what they could eat when. I never thought the government had anything to do with it. That's fascinating!

Yeah, in Tudor times when the Catholic church was abolished in favour of Christianity, eating fish was seen as a Catholic trait- a political move. So people stopped buying it. When the next king came in he'd seen the damage it had done to the fish market and made it a law that people couldn't eat meat on Fridays.

So now we have fish and chip Fridays!!!

Interesting topic! I enjoy reading about other cultures

I grew up in Poland and always consider our way of eating as heavy and unhealthy.. but after years of living abroad and learning more about nutrition Im slowly coming back to old habits from home. I seriously believe that our diet is balanced and well planned.

Breakfast would be a mixture of fibre and protein.. like
-bread [ polish bread is amazing!] with cold cuts or cheese
- eggs [ boiled/ fried ] with bread and butter
-cottage cheese [ something between quark and cottage cheese really ] on a wholemeal roll with some salt and tomato
-scrambled eggs with tomatoes and spring onion
Apart from tea or coffee we drink milk or cocoa in the morning

We eat second breakfast which normally would be piece of fruit, KISIEL - more liquidy type of fruit jelly, fruit juice or a light sandwich /yogurt... just something that would give u a bit of sugar ..

Lunch is the main meal ...around 3-5pm [ depending on how u work ]
In most homes it HAS to be soup followed by main..
Which again apparently is healthy for u, as u r filled up with soup and eat less afterwards..
so:
-soup [ beetroot soup, chicken broth, tomato soup[ with rice or pasta in it], gherkin soup and so on.. low calories but very filling ]
main:
-potatoes [ boiled ..in my region we dont add milk or butter to mash.. but we sprinkle it with fresh dill ] .
Something i havent noticed in any of the countries i lived in .. instead of potatoes we eat a lot of groats , barley, buckwheat.. etc
- meat [ usually is fried but a lot of people boil it or bake it in foil] or goulash/stew
-fish on fridays
-and what ppl from abroad always find weird COLD SALAD or PICKLES.. like gherkins,, pickled beetroot, carrot and raisins salad.. cabbage .. or tomato with yogurts and onions.. cooked veg are mainly in sauces


Some people have a snack before supper .. which again would be a fruit or a small sandwich but most of us skip it and have cup of tea instead.. surprisingly we drink a lot of tea.. black with lemon .. or herbal/fruity ones.

Supper would be something like breakfast .. but we will have more proteins than carbs in the evenings [ like hot sausage , ham, cold chicken meat, boiled eggs or diary plus little bit of bread ] and again milk, cocoa, tea..

I have noticed that Polish diet consist of 5 a day [ recommended amount of fruit/veg a day ] and healthy dose of proteins.
Also there are some foods that i always recommend for those on diet.. as they are very low calorie like all the polish pickles and salads in jars.. our cottage cheese and other diary products.. and bread.. with hardly or none additions..

We do eat sweets of course but on daily basis we opt for fruity ones.. like KISIEL or KOMPOT .
Oats/porridge [ with salt] or semolina [with fruit syrup ] is something we give to our kids .. or eat it in winter time [ as winters are crazy cold over there we need more energy to stay warm].

This doesnt apply to party food.. or holidays feasts.. when we eat up all the fat and sugar we have saved during the year lol

As i was growing up , eating out wasnt very popular, it only happened on special occasions.. but this has changed now.. people like to try different cuisines and eat out way more than 10 years ago..


I wish someone from Sothern Asia , north Africa or Japan added his 5 cents to the topic

I spent a month in the Czech republic and Germany a couple years ago. I really loved the brown bread they served for breakfast. Brown bread and mild cheese was an excellent breakfast. I ended up being pretty much vegetarian when I was there. the other omnipresent thing was red peppers onions and zucchini sauted. the weird thing that hotels put out for breakfast that I didn't understand was a dessert. like cheese cake or cake. Not sure if they just were putting something out for the americans, i/e they'd heard we love sweets for every meal or if that's a normal thing in that part of the world. it was puzzling. one hotel had crepes with jam. that was lovely.

the brown bread was not less sweet than the kind of bread I normally eat but it was really lovely and not like anything in the states.

And brace yourself! We make tea by heating the kettle, putting the bag in the cold mug, letting the steam escape (I've never seen any other Americans cover the cup) and pouring the water into the cold cup. The tea steeps out into the bottom 1/4 of the cup, so we have to stir it.

At home, I have a "proper" tea pot and taught my husband how to make a decent cup of tea. I pour water into the cup and tea pot (to warm them), pour out the water, make the tea in the pot, cover the pot, and pour the tea over the milk in the cup. It's a bit more work, but my DH agrees that it makes a better cuppa tea.

We do that too! Probably nowadays most Brits use teabags, and either put them in a teapot or straight into the cup. I've never seen anyone cover the cup though. In my house we use tealeaves though, in a teapot. But I don't tend to warm the pot or the cup I have to say. The trick is you have to use the water just as it comes up to a boil, don't let it stop boiling.