Petit déjeuner
The day starts of course with the ‘petit déjeuner’. This is usually a baguette with butter and jam. French bread can also be dipped in the coffee (of course without the jam and butter).
A croissant for breakfast is more the exception than the rule. If you eat a croissant, you also dip it in the coffee. In the big cities this sometimes happens standing at the bar, just before the working day starts.
If you put jam on your croissant, you will immediately fall for a Frenchman: only Dutch people do that.
At breakfast you drink a large mug of weak coffee (possibly with milk). The later it gets in the day, the less milk you take in your coffee and the stronger you drink the coffee.
Déjeuner
The most important meal of the day for the French is lunch. It starts at 12 noon and can last until 2 pm. The meal has a cold starter, a warm main course, possibly a cheese plate and then a sweet dessert. The French round off the meal with strong coffee.
Wine is not necessarily drunk with meals. It is much more common to drink water with lunch.
Goûter
You eat the snack in France around 4 p.m. Then especially small sweet snacks are served. Although nowadays you also see more impressive quantities that are reminiscent of the English high tea: cookies, cakes, sandwiches and fruit.
Dinner
The French eat in the evening at 8 p.m. Also now a starter (l’entrée or hors d’oeuvre) is served, a main course, possibly a cheese platter and a dessert. The courses are the same as for lunch, except that the starter can also be a soup. A good wine with dinner is of course indispensable.
