Can you do me a favor?

[lovelypig]

Can you offer me something about the western country's breakfast and Chinese breakfast? Anything will be OK,thank you !

[AlainK]

I don't know anything about the kind of food Chinese people have for breakfast, but if you want to know about western countries, in fact it depends on "cultural areas":

- In Britain, less and les people tend to have a traditional "cooked breakfast", i.e. fried or scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans, fried tomato, toast with butter (or more likely margerine) and jam or marmalade, fruit juice, tea or (white - and usually weak) coffee.
Too long to prepare, too expensive. More and more people only have toast, and/or cereals.

- As far as I could see, in Germany and Hungary (and probably in their cultural sphere of influence), people also eat quite a lot for breakfast : bread rolls, butter and jam, toast, ham, salami, other 'delikatessen" (same in the Netherlands, at least it was in the hotel where I stayed a few weeks ago)...

- In France, most people don't eat much : bread and butter, more and more often cereals, but no meat or vegetables.

Interestingly enough, there is this article (+mp3) on the site of the BBC today:
'Aged 11, I was too big for Paris' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...nt/5110632.stm)

"She did not mention Parisiennes' real secret - living on black coffee and cigarettes - though it is a diet that appears to work for most, along with steely self-discipline."

Well, strong black coffee (fair trade coffee now), and a cigarette, that's been my breakfast for years. I stayed slim a long time, the beer belly only came a few years after 40, but that was not because of breakfast...

And what's a traditional Chinese breakfast like?...

Alain

[AlainK]

I forgot to mention porridge, for the Scots.
Oats is also very popular in the Alps (muesli in Germany and Switzerland, a porridge-like preparation too in the French Alps), because it's very energetic, one of the best breakfast for the winter.
That's what I used to have when I worked in a ski resort when I was young...

Alain

[Tdol]

Try here for links to the topic too:
http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/as...ight=breakfast

[lovelypig]

Thank you ,you are so kind !