Brunch

Brunch is a late morning meal between the typical time for breakfast and lunch. It serves as a replacement for breakfast, usually eaten when one rises too late to eat breakfast. Brunch is typically served beginning in the 10:00 a.m. hour, and continuing through early afternoon. The term is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch. While common in the United States, unlike "tiffin", the term originated in 1896 as British student slang (as cited in Punch magazine). Brunch can be served after a morning event or prior to an afternoon one, such as a wedding or sporting event. It is usually a more relaxed meal than breakfast or lunch, and considered appropriate for informal celebrations.

Some restaurants and hotels serve brunch, especially on Sundays and holidays. Such brunches are often serve-yourself buffets, but menu-ordered meals may be available instead of, or with, the buffet. The meal usually involves standard breakfast foods such as eggs, pancakes, sausages, bacon, ham, fruits, pastries, and the like. However, it can include almost any other type of food served throughout the day. Buffets may have quiche, large roasts of meat or poultry, cold seafood like shrimp and smoked fish, salads, soups, vegetable dishes, many types of breadstuffs, and desserts of all sorts.

The dim sum brunch is a popular meal in Chinese restaurants world-wide. It consists of a wide variety of stuffed bao (buns), dumplings, and other savory or sweet food items which have been steamed, deep-fried, or baked. Customers select small portions from passing carts, as the kitchen continuously produces and sends out more freshly prepared dishes.

One episode of The Simpsons described brunch as: "It's not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of cantaloupe at the end. You don't get completely what you get at breakfast, but you get a good meal."

Brunch Marketing

Brunch meals are one of the offerings made by restaurants and diners as special occasion meals during holidays such as Valentine's or Mother’s Day. It is not uncommon for these holiday brunch services to require advance reservations; and the restaurant features special pricing and themed dining selections on its brunch menu. Restaurants that cater to the brunch trade may offer brunch as late as 5 p.m. on weekends, though cutoff times between 2 and 3 p.m. are more common.

Regional Variations

New York City

Despite the name, which suggests a meal half-way between breakfast and lunch, brunch in New York City typically consists of breakfast food eaten later than a regular lunch, in the afternoon on Saturdays and Sundays. Eggs, French toast, pancakes, hash browns and other standard breakfast foods are usually accompanied by coffee, and often by a Mimosa, champagne, or Bloody Mary. New York brunch is rarely a buffet, except in large hotels.

The grease-heavy meal is eaten later in New York than in other places because it is often used as a hangover remedy for those who stay out late drinking on Friday or Saturday nights. The alcohol-fueled New York nightlife can often push brunch well into the afternoon, after everyone has slept off the previous night's excesses.

A variation of the New York brunch, originating with New York Jews, consists of bagels and their traditional accompaniments, including: "shmears" (cream cheeses of various flavors), tomatoes, red onions, capers, and lox. This is often called a "bagel brunch," and has spread throughout the nation.