Eating at Home

German cuisine is known for being “hearty.” It includes a lot of bread, potatoes, pork sausages, and red meat. Given that fine, flavorful food is an important part of daily life, many meals are prepared from scratch. Breakfast usually consists of bread or sour-dough pastry with milk or tea. The main meal of the day is lunch, which, in the past, was shared together by the family. Traditionally, it consists of a meat dish (most often pork, but also chicken and beef), potatoes or another starch, salad, lettuce, or another vegetable. Dinner is a smaller meal of bread with cold cuts or cheese. Since working families rarely eat lunch together, dinner has become the family meal in a way that lunch used to be. Dessert, usually a dry cake, is not eaten after the main meal, but in the afternoon with coffee. The afternoon snack is a traditional social event for the older generation. Sunday lunch is considered the main family meal of the week.

Germany is famous for its beer; however, beer is not drunk every day but mostly at festive occasions along with wine. Non-alcoholic beverages consist of water, soft drinks, and juices, particularly apple and orange juice. The water is usually bottled and carbonated. A favorite German drink is called "“Apfelschorle” which is a blend of apple juice and carbonated water.