Breakfast in Europe

Austria

The typical Austrian breakfast is very similar to that eaten in Germany. Cereals have become popular and are often accompanied by yoghurt, coffee and fruit.

Belgium

A typical Belgian breakfast is like that of its northern neighbor, the Netherlands. Belgians do not eat their most famous food, Belgian waffles, which are traditionally sold in tourist areas of large cities, and are eaten as a snack. The breakfast in Belgium consists of breads, toasted or untoasted, with several marmalades, jams, and chocolate & nut spread or just with a bar of chocolate. Other common toppings include sliced meats and cheeses. Pastries and croissants may be served on Sundays, but are mostly not eaten on weekdays. Belgians often enjoy coffee, tea, hot chocolate, water, or fresh juice with breakfast.

Bulgaria

Breakfast usually consists of white bread with cheese or salami and egg. Open sandwiches are common, spread with margarine and topped with prosciutto and yellow cheese.

Cyprus

Breakfast in Cyprus usually consists of wholemeal bread, fruit, Greek yoghurt with honey and coffee. A more traditional Cypriot breakfast includes Haloumi cheese, tomato, eggs, cucumber, olives and fruit juice. 

Czech Republic

A typical snídane (breakfast) in a Czech home is hearty–bread with butter, cheese, eggs, ham or sausage, jam or yogurt, and coffee or tea. Muesli, yoghurt and fruit also feature heavily. 

Denmark

A typical breakfast in Denmark consists of breakfast cereals or bread, accompanied by tea or coffee. Weekends or festive occasions may call for bread rolls (rundstykker) and possibly Danish pastries.

Egypt

Traditional Egyptian breakfast is ful medames – slow cooked fava beans dressed in olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.

Estonia

Estonians are likely to tuck into two slices of rye bread, spread with butter and topped with ham for breakfast and may have some fruit and a cup of tea on the side.

Finland

Breakfast usually consists of open sandwiches. The sandwich is often buttered (with margarine) and topped with hard cheese or cold cuts of meat. Sour milk products such as yogurt or viili are also common breakfast foods, usually served in a bowl with cereals such as corn flakes, muesli, and sometimes with sugar, fruit or jam. A third food that is commonly eaten at breakfast is porridge (puuro), often made of rolled oats, and eaten with a pat of butter (voisilmä, lit. "butter eye") and/or with milk, or fruit or jam, especially the sort made of raspberries or strawberries (sometimes lingonberries). Common drinks are milk, juice, tea, or coffee.

France

In France, a typical breakfast will consist of cups of coffee, often café au lait, or hot chocolate, usually served in big bowls, accompanied by a glass of orange or grapefruit juice. The main food consists of sweet products such as tartines (slices of baguette or other breads spread with butter, jam or chocolate paste), sometimes dunked in the hot drink. Brioches and other pastries such as croissants, pains au chocolat and pains aux raisins are also traditional. Other products such as breakfast cereals, fruit compote, fromage blanc, and yogurt are becoming increasingly common as part of the meal.

Germany

The typical German breakfast consists of bread rolls, butter, jam, ham, sausages, soft-boiled eggs and coffee. Cereals are now popular, and regional variation is significant — cheeses, cold cuts, meat spreads, yogurt, granola and fruit (fresh or stewed) may appear, as well as eggs. 

Greece

Various kinds of pastry constitute the traditional Greek breakfast. Tyropita, spanakopita and bougastsa (particularly in Northern Greece) are eaten, usually accompanied with Greek coffee. Nowadays, wholemeal bread spread with honey and Greek yoghurt and fruit are common. Children typically drink chocolate or plain milk.

Hungary

In Hungary people usually have a large breakfast. It consists of bread, bread rolls or crescent-shaped bread (kifli), toast, pastries with different fillings, butter, jam or honey, eggs in different forms (fried eggs/scrambled eggs/omelette, etc), salami, cold cuts of meat, cheeses, hot dogs with mustard, tea, coffee or milk. Hungarians sometimes have rice pudding called (tejberizs) or cream of wheat (tejbegriz), usually eaten with cocoa powder or cinnamon sugar. "Lecsó" made from tomatoes and green pepper can sometimes be a breakfast meal as well, mainly in the summer.

Ireland

Breakfast cereal is at the centre of many Irish breakfasts and is usually accompanied by tea with milk or orange juice. For weekends and special occasions, a full fry-up (or grill) is sometimes eaten and this may include bacon, sausages, eggs, fried bread, black pudding, white pudding, tomatoes and baked beans.

Italy

The traditional breakfast in Italy is simply Caffé e latte (hot coffee with milk) with bread or rolls, butter, and jam — known as prima colazione or just colazione. Fette biscottate (a cookie-like hard bread often eaten with chocolate & nut spread) and biscotti (cookies) are commonly eaten. Children drink hot chocolate, plain milk, or hot milk with very little coffee.

Latvia

On an average day Latvians usually eat a moderate breakfast before going to work. People drink a morning coffee or tea and eat sandwiches with cheese, ham, sausage, tomatoes or cucumber. For many Latvians the day is not imaginable without a drink of milk, which is usually drunk at breakfast. A boiled egg or omelette is also a popular breakfast dish for many.

Lithuania

Breakfast in Lithuania typically consists of two slices of rye bread, spread with butter and topped with ham. Some fruit and a cup of tea on the side complete the morning meal.

Luxembourg

White bread, spread with chocolate spread is the usual start to the day in Luxembourg and may be accompanied by a glass of mil or orange juice.

Netherlands

The Dutch typically eat sliced bread with three choices of toppings: dairy products (numerous variations of cheese), a variety of cured and sliced meats, or sweet /semi-sweet products such as jam, peanut butter or chocolate toppings. Some typical, but less common products are applesyrup, honey, stroop (lesser known as bebogeen, a very sweet caramel topping made from sugar beets) and kokosbrood (a coconut product that is served thinly sliced like sliced cheese; also known as Cocosbread). Breakfast cereals are also popular, served with milk or yoghurt. Tea, coffee, milk, and juice are the most popular breakfast beverages. Breakfast may also include (for instance on Sundays) boiled eggs, raisin bread, pumpernickel, ontbijtkoek or croissants.

Poland

Modern breakfast consists of a meat or jam sandwich, with coffee, tea, yogurt or juice as a beverage. Weekend breakfast can be supplemented with a salad, cooked egg, cereal, muesli, an apple, or the like. A second breakfast, which replaces lunch at work, is similar or identical the actual breakfast.

Portugal

A Portugese pequeno-almoço comes in two varieties: one eaten running to work and another, more time-consuming one, more common on the weekends. When rushed in the morning, a cup of yogurt, milk, coffee or both and some bread with butter, cheese or jam suffices. When they have more time, they may add orange juice, croissants, different kinds of pastry and breakfast cereal.

Romania

The traditional Romanian breakfast consists of bread, cold plates such as mortadella and cheese, feta cheese, cucumber, tomatoes and eggs prepared as an omelette or sunny side up. Also, black coffee or tea usually are often drunk.

Slovakia

A traditional Slovak breakfast consists of of eggs, tomatoes, ham, kielbasa (sausage), honey and bread. For a lighter start to the day, locals mya opt for some coffee with white bread, cheese or salami, egg and cucumber or tomato.

Spain

In Central Spain the traditional breakfast is chocolate con churros - hot chocolate with Spanish-style fritters, which are extruded sticks of doughnut -like dough with a star-shaped profile. The chocolate drink is made very thick and sweet. In Madrid, churros are somewhat smaller and shaped like a charity ribbon. This meal is normally served in cafeterias. In the South and West it is more common to have a cup of coffee (usually with milk) and a toast with a choice of olive oil and salt, tomato and olive oil, butter, jam, pâté, jamón serrano (cured ham), and other options like sobrasada (a raw cured spiced sausage that is easy to spread), and in Andalucia, pringá. Freshly squeezed orange juice is widely available in most places as an alternative for coffee. The breakfast is not often larger than these two items, because usually in late morning there is a break known as almuerzo when there is a snack. Sometimes, toast is replaced with galletas (a type of cookies made with flour, sugar, oil and vanilla flavour), magdalenas (a Spanish version of the French madeleine made with oil instead of butter) or buns.

Sweden

Breakfast in Sweden is generally a sandwich made of a large amount of different types of soft bread or crisp bread, cold cuts, caviar, cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese, goats cheese, eggs, scrambled or boiled, tomatoes or cucumber, or a toast with marmalade or maybe honey, juices, coffee, hot chocolate or tea. Breakfast cereals with milk, yoghurt or filmjölk, currants and fruits are popular or warm wholegrain porridge with milk and jam, (for example lingonberry jam). Pickled herring or shrimp, pâté  (leverpastej) with pickled cucumber, blueberry-soup (blåbärssoppa) and rose hip soup are also enjoyed sometimes for breakfast.

Turkey

Turkish breakfast consists of fresh white sourdough bread, feta cheese, kaşar cheese, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, soujouk salami, pastirma (cured meat) and boiled eggs. This is accompanied by hot back tea served in small glasses.

United Kingdom

Britons buy more breakfast cereals than anyone else in Europe and breakfast cereal with milk is core to many British breakfasts. This may be accompanied by tea, coffee or orange juice. For special occasions and weekends, a ‘full English’ may be eaten which may include eggs, bacon or sausages, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast with butter or margarine.