Second breakfast is a common practice in Germany, Austria, Poland, England, and on farms worldwide. It is a smaller meal eaten around 10:30 am to keep energy levels up until lunch. The meal varies by culture and is known by different names, such as “zweites fruhstuck” in Germany and “gabelfruhstuck” in Austria. The intent is to spread nutrients throughout the day, and the foods served depend on the culture and means of the server.
One breakfast is not enough for some who prefer to eat more frequent and smaller meals throughout the day. A second breakfast is customary in parts of Germany such as Bavaria and Zurich as well as in Poland, Austria, England and on agricultural farms worldwide – where breakfast may have been just a cup of fruit juice or coffee with a toast or a pastry. This is followed at about 10.30am by a fuller meal to keep the tanks full until lunch in the early afternoon.
The second breakfast goes by a number of names, depending on where it is served. In Germany, beer halls called bierpalast often offer the meal, called zweites fruhstuck, which literally translates to second breakfast. It regularly includes wheat beer, a soft pretzel with mustard, and some white sausage called weisswurst made that morning. These sausages are a blend of pork, lamb and beef and are so perishable that they must be eaten within approximately 12 hours of production, a standard maintained by tradition and by government inspectors.
In Austria, this meal is called gabelfruhstuck, translated as “fork meal”. Held at 10am, the foods could be similar to the zweites fruhstuck or completely different. A popular alternative is called bauernfruhstuck, which is hash browns and bacon, topped with a scrambled egg concoction flowing with tomatoes and ham cubes.
In other countries, the foods are likely to be different but the intent is the same. The second breakfast is known as drugie sniadanie in Poland. The British call this meal “elevties”, while the term is due to the Austrians. Perhaps the most common Westernized way of referring to this meal is brunch. Farmers in all of these places often participate in this tradition, largely due to the long hours they work and the need for energy during the day.
The intent of the second breakfast is to spread nutrients more deeply throughout the day, a practice endorsed by nutritionists, fitness trainers and doctors. In Germany, perhaps the most devoted participants in this meal, school children are used to breaking bread at this time of day, called Pausenbrot. As adults, they continue the tradition with full and in-between meals, known as zwischenmahlzeit.
The types of foods served during a second breakfast depend on the culture and means of the server. In Americanized contexts, this will include foods such as eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, and toast. For those in Europe, the meal is just as likely to include the standard sandwiches, fruit, sweets, crepes and puddings.
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