Breakfast

Cafés often offer Croissants for breakfast.Le petit déjeuner (breakfast) is often a quick meal consisting of croissants, butter and jam, eggs or ham along with coffee or tea. Children often drink hot chocolate along with their breakfast. Breakfast of some kind is always served in cafés opening early in the day.

Lunch

Sunday lunches are often longer and are taken with the family. Restaurants normally open for lunch at 12:00noon and close at 2:30 pm. Many restaurants close on Saturday and Monday during lunch.

In large cities a majority of working people and students eat their lunch at a corporate or school cafeteria, which normally serve complete meals as described above; it is therefore not usual for students to bring their own lunch food. It is common for white-collar workers to be given lunch vouchers as part of their employee benefits. These can be used in most restaurants, supermarkets and traiteurs; however workers having lunch in this way typically do not eat all three dishes of a traditional lunch due to price and time considerations. In smaller cities and towns, some working people leave their workplaces to return home for lunch, generating four rush hours during the day. Finally, an also popular alternative especially among blue-collar workers is to lunch on a sandwich possibly followed with a dessert; both dishes can be found ready-made at bakeries and supermarkets for budget prices.

Dinner

Le dîner (dinner) often consists of three courses, hors d'oeuvre or entrée (introductory course often soup), plat principal (main course), and a cheese course or dessert, sometimes with a salad offered before the cheese or dessert. Yoghurt may replace the cheese course, while a normal everyday dessert would be fresh fruit. The meal is often accompanied by bread, wine and mineral water. Wine consumption has been dropping recently in young people. Fruit juice consumption has risen from 25.6% in 1996 to 31.6% in 2002. Main meat courses are often served with vegetables along with rice or pasta.Restaurants often open at 7:30pm for dinner and stop taking orders between the hours of 10:00pm and 11:00 pm. Many restaurants close for dinner on Sundays.

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