Breakfast is served

While spending time in the spa town of Bibione, in the Veneto area, I came across a charming sign in a bar, touting its breakfast offerings.  Clearly trying to lure in the multi-cultural clientele, they were proffering three types of breakfast options:

Continental Breakfast

Breakfast Italiano

German Breakfast

I stopped in for a quick cappuccino & brioche, and pondered the differences.  Although I was on the continent (albeit a stone's throw from the former Republic of the Serenissima), a truly continental experience includes a croissant (mistakenly called 'brioche' in Italian, which is an altogether different item), coffee or tea (and here, I wonder if you get your tea English-style with milk as well), and a glass of orange juice (which in Italy, there is none better, especially if it's blood-red orange-style).  Hotels have since taken it further, with a whole banquet of breakfast offerings, including yogurt and anything else not salty (like the British eggs & bacon).

According to my most favorite website on earth, Mr.Breakfast.com : A typical German breakfast (Frühstück) falls somewhere between what we'd call a deli platter and a continental breakfast. Cold meats (including their famous sausages) and cheeses are served alongside a variety of breads and sweet toppings like jam, marmalade and honey. Soft-boiled eggs, cereal and fruit would round out a large breakfast.

[Be sure to click the link above to see the terrific photo he's added there as an indicator, and the recipes, of course, not that I believe he's going to show us how to gut, slice & cure a pig for sausage consumption].

Italians, on the other hand, who win hands down on every culture on earth for eating habits, garner however the worst slot in their breakfast offerings.  In households across the country, kids are served as their daily dose of 'brain food', nothing more than a few dry & tasteless cookies and a cup of warm milk or cocoa.  Daring mammas allow for the bread & nutella spread each morning, adding a dose of protein with their sugar.  Kellogg's has been trying to change this habit for decades, and, judging by supermarket aisles, they're finally succeeding. Nonetheless, breakfast in the Bel Paese usually keeps you hungry and hankering for the fantabulous lunch (pranzo) soon to follow.

As for my little breakfast place?  Although they get an 'A' for effort on the 'catering to the clientele' front, the sign was curiously posted only in Italian.  How many Germans looking for their Frühstück, actually stuck their head in the door each summer day is beyond me.