Warmes Essen oder Kalt?

Well, Dave was supposed to have surgery yesterday (an ear issue), but there was an emergency that kept the surgeon busy, so we waited all day at the hospital (he was checked in, gown on, no food or drink) before finally being sent home around 7:00 last night.  Not wanting to embarrass him (or horrify my readers!), I didn't take any photos, so this is rather a "dry" post--but there was an incident that reminded me of an interesting difference between German and American culture that I can mention.

Once it was clear he would not be going in for surgery after all, the nurse was able to bring Dave some food (we still had to wait to find out when he would be rescheduled to).  The question was, did he want the lunch tray or the dinner tray?  The vital difference between the two would e that the lunch tray is a hot meal, dinner is not.

I think we had been living in Germany nearly two years before we figured out that In Germany, the norm is to only eat one hot meal a day.  It is usually lunch.  Often served in a workplace cafeteria or at school during the week.  There is generally a cold option available and if someone has plans to go out for dinner, or to a party where food will e served, etc., they will switch things up and have the cold meal for lunch and hot for dinner (seriously, this happens, often).

I don't feel too badly for missing this for so long.  I figured it out in conversation with my German friend Eva, who was annoyed that her little daughter wanted a hot dinner when she had already had a hot lunch at school.  Eva and her family lived in the US for 3 years and never realized that us Americans commonly eat hot lunches and hot dinners (an even hot breakfasts fairly frequently!).

I sometimes wish my family could adopt this German way.  I'd have a lot less to do if I only needed to cook lunches for Marika and I on weekdays and could throw some salad, rolls, cheese or lunch meet on the table in the evenings.  Sometimes, when Dave is out of town on business  the kids and I eat this way.  But, Dave has never even liked cold sandwiches in a packed lunch, so I doubt it could take over as life (then again, I now drink water without ice as often as not and he drinks bubbly water--so you never know!).

I hope you enjoyed hearing about this little difference in the cultures--and if you happen to know about other cultures and which model they use, I'd love to hear about it.

Hadley