There are 3 main meals in Hungary: breakfast, lunch and dinner. The main meal is the lunch. It's substantial and it has 3 courses: the soup, the main course and the dessert.
Breakfast is very important. We eat cold food for breakfast in Hungary: some sandwiches with tea, milk or coffee. I never have breakfast because of the stress. My mom cooks in my family, she makes lunch too. I really like meat, potatoes and pasta.
If you want to be healthy you have to forget fat, alcohol and spicy meals. You should eat a lot of fruits, vegetables and drink lots of water. It's important that you shouldn't eat after 6 p.m., because it's very unhealthy for your stomach.
The Hungarian cuisine has a good reputation abroad. Goulash, stuffed cabbage, pancakes, paprika chicken with sour cream, noodles with cabbage are world-famous dishes for example. Hungarian specialities are prepared with paprika.
I like to drink soft drinks after a meal. My favourite is Pepsi.
I usually don't eat out. If there is a family occasion, for example farewell ceremony, we go to a restaurant.
I like fast food restaurants, because it doesn't take too much time to wait for a dish. You can have a meal in 10 minutes and you are not obliged to give a tip to the waiter. But this kind of restaurant is crowded, noisy and it's not easy to find a free table.
We always pay in cash and we usually give a tip in a traditional restaurant. That means 5 or 10% of the whole price.
In self-service restaurants you can take the food and fill the drink and then you pay for it. I think that's a great idea, but it can be crowded and expensive. You can also ask your meal for take away.
I lay the table as I sometimes do for over the dining table and I put out the dinner plates first, then the soup plates. The knife and spoon go on the right-hand side, the napkin and the fork on the left. I put the side plates, glasses and dessert spoons in front of the plates.
Meals and eating habits
Szerző
Szabó Dorina