This Popular Bit Of American Food Culture Is Beloved By Europeans, According To Rick Steves

Trusted American traveler and TV personality Rick Steves is no stranger to experiencing incredible breakfasts all around Europe. When he  first traveled there without his parents, he was fresh out of high school. "I packed along a big plastic tube filled with a swirl of peanut butter and strawberry jam," Steves says on his blog. "Every meal, I spread it on bread and washed it down with soda pop." His tastes have changed and "I eat much better now," he says, and he often recommends that tourists be adventurous eaters while traveling through Europe. He also chats about food with locals, and comparisons between American and European cuisine often come up. According to Steves, there's a popular bit of American food culture that is beloved by Europeans.

While enjoying a meal in Italy with a Roman tour guide named Claudia, Steves discovered, "She's charmed by our breakfast culture and that we 'meet for breakfast,'" he writes. Apparently the American tradition of gathering for a big breakfast or brunch is not something often done in Europe. "[Claudia] says you would never see families going out for breakfast in Italy," Steves adds. 

American breakfasts are things of beauty and sheer indulgence. Full plates and full stomachs are inevitable. As friends and family gather around a large table on a Saturday morning at the local International House of Pancakes, stacks of pancakes oozing in butter and maple syrup arrive, and a smiling waitress kindly refills your coffee for free. It's a scene that perfectly captures the charm of an American morning, and it's part of why America has some of the best cities for food lovers to add to their bucket lists.

As an American traveling through Europe for the first time, you may wonder where all of the familiar hot and hearty options are when you sleepily make your way to the breakfast buffet in the morning. While breakfast plates piled high with bacon, eggs, and pancakes may be a relatively normal sight in America, it is not always common in Europe. Americans may be surprised to find various cold cuts, slices of cheese, cold veggies, and some bread on the breakfast table instead. 

Italians often start their mornings with a cappuccino and bread and jam, or a traditional pastry like a cornetto. Polish breakfasts are composed of cold cuts and sliced cheese to make an open-faced sandwich. Similarly, Germans eat bread with meat and cheese, or rolls with butter or jam, or simply a bowl of muesli or cereal. If they want something sweet, a roll with Nutella will do the trick. A popular breakfast in Scandinavia is smoked salmon or herring on rye bread. Breakfast portions in European nations are often quick, small, and simple — although a "full" English breakfast is slightly closer to the American style. It typically includes eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, toast, and veggies like mushrooms and tomatoes. Plus, of course, coffee. 

European travelers encountering the American breakfast scene for the first time often experience culture shock from the start. It's not only the idea of meeting up for the first meal of the day that is uncommon to Steves' European friends, it is also the portion sizes. Gathering around a table full of breakfast sausages, crispy bacon, fried and scrambled eggs, stacks of pancakes, hash browns, buttery toast, and endless refills — not to mention all-you-can-eat buffets — is quite a lot more than they'd often eat at home. As Rick Steves' Tuscan friend Roberto told him, "In America, you eat first with your eyes and second with your mouth."

According to Steves' friends, it seems to be the over-the-top, unapologetic indulgence paired with the social ritual of gathering early in the day that makes the American breakfast experience so memorable for Europeans. It's a way to get the most out of their food tourism experience.

But this complaint about indulgence doesn't mean they don't enjoy American breakfast foods. When Steves tries to toast to Italian food, his Tuscan friend Manfredo counters with, "To bacon and eggs." Roberto adds that he "gained four kilos in three weeks," during his last trip to New York, blaming omelets and hash browns as the likely culprit. They make another toast, "to American breakfasts," solidifying the untold love story between Europeans and the American morning ritual.