Voyages en français

There may be few people who serve the full afternoon tea at home these days but the meal is alive and well in hotels and tea shops up and down the land. The UK Tea Council give out awards for a good afternoon tea and this year’s winner of the London Tea Place Award is Brown’s Hotel where you can expect to pay from £35.00 per head for a traditional afternoon tea. You can pay a little more at the Ritz while also indulging yourself in ways which might surprise the Duchess with a Champagne or chocolate tea ! However, as with all good traditions there are rules and in the case of many top tea rooms formal dress is required.

It might be interesting to know whether these establishments are as strict about the way in which the tea itself is served. There is a long running debate in the UK about whether the milk should go in to the cup before the tea or afterwards. The Duchess favoured the former in order to protect her fine china but strong views are held on both sides : George Orwell argued vehemently for the latter in an essay titled ‘A Nice Cup of Tea’ in 1946. Recent scientific research suggests that from the point of view of taste the Duchess was right and Orwell wrong and as she is credited with starting the afternoon tea tradition and this year has had a blend of tea named after her perhaps she should have the last word.

Anche in Italia si fa merenda ?

È questa una pratica diffusa solo tra i bambini, o anche tra gli adulti ?

E ancora, a che ora si fa la merenda ? Solo di pomeriggio ? O anche a metà mattina, se di merenda si può parlare, in questo caso ?

Che cosa si mangia generalmente a merenda ?

In der Regel wird zum Sonntagskaffee Kuchen, Torte oder Gebäck serviert.
Ob selbst gebackener Apfelstreusel oder kunstvoll dekoriertes Konditoren-Meisterwerk - das Stück Kuchen gehört zum Kaffee wie der Senf zur Bratwurst !

Es gibt unzählige Variationen von Torten und Kuchen in deutschen Konditoreien und Cafés : von der Schwarzwälderkirschtorte über Herrentorte, Baumkuchen, Frankfurter Kranz und Dresdner Christstollen (zu Weihnachten), bis hin zu den vielen Strudel- und Kuchensorten, die meist mit frischem Obst gebacken werden.

Während die Konditorei oder das Kaffeehaus heute als etwas altmodisch gilt, "Kaffee und Kuchen" sind immer noch fester Bestandteil der deutschen Lebensart.

Vielleicht liegt es daran, dass die Sonntagseinladung zu Kaffee und Kuchen ebenso verbreitet wie beliebt ist. Jemandem einen Kuchen zu backen - egal ob zur Hochzeit, zum Geburtstag oder einfach nur so - ist eine liebevolle, "typisch deutsche" Geste.