brunch

Part of the Meals series

Common meals

Breakfast • Brunch • Lunch • Tea • Dinner • Supper

Components & courses

Amuse-bouche • Appetizer • Entrée • Main course • Side dish • Salad • Drink • Dessert • Fruit • Cheese • Nuts • Entremet

Related concepts

Food • Eating • Cuisine • Etiquette • Buffet • Banquet

Brunch or bruncheon is a combination of breakfast and lunch ^[1] The term is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch(eon). Brunch is often served after a morning event or prior to an afternoon one, such as a wedding or sporting event. As such, it is a heavy meal meant to take the place of both. 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.^[2] 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.^[3][4]

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 breadstuffs, and desserts of all sorts.

The dim sum brunch is a popular meal in Chinese restaurants worldwide.^[5] It consists of a wide variety of stuffed bao (buns), dumplings, and other savory or sweet food items which have been steamed, deep-fried, or baked. Customers select small portions from passing carts, as the kitchen continuously produces and sends out more freshly-prepared dishes. Dim sum is usually eaten as a mid-morning, midday, or mid-afternoon teatime.

Special occasions

Brunch meals are prepared by restaurants and hotels for special occasions, such as weddings, Valentine's or Mother’s Day.

Brunch is traditionally served just on Sundays.

French language

The Académie française prefers that French speakers do not incorporate English words like brunch into their language, and suggests using the phrase le grand petit déjeuner,^[6] literally, "The big little lunch." Despite the wishes of the Académie, the typical French person readily says "brunch." In fact, most French-French dictionaries have an entry for "brunch" but not "grand petit déjeuner," defining brunch as a "meal taken late in the morning, in place of both breakfast and lunch."^[7]

The Office québécois de la langue française accepts "brunch" as a valid word but also provides a synonym déjeuner-buffet. Note that, however, in Quebec, déjeuner alone (without the qualifying adjective petit) means "breakfast".^[8] In Quebec, the word—when Francized--is pronounced [brɔ̃ʃ], whereas in France, [brœ̃ʃ].^[9]

German language

German-speaking countries readily adopt Anglicisms,^{[citation needed]} and "brunch" is no exception, defining it as "a combination of breakfast and lunch."^[10] However, the German language has its own word for "brunch": Gabelfrühstück (literally, "fork breakfast").^[11][12]

See also

Food portal

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Second breakfast
• Elevenses

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brunch