Though you don’t see that many people in the streets, Portuguese people eat a lot: generally we eat 5 times per day. Here they go:

Breakfast: a caffèlatte and a sandwich or cereals with milk. Is eaten at home and quickly as everyone is always late for work.

Mid-morning snack: about 10.30 or 11am it’s time to stop what you’re doing and ask your colleagues if they’d like some coffee. It lasts about 15 minutes and is a moment of relax and socializing between working colleagues. Almost everyone drinks an espresso and eats one pastry.

Lunch: about 1pm everyone is already hungry and it’s time for lunch break. It lasts about one hour and is composed by some bread, vegetables soup, the main dish (rice and meat or fish and potatoes), desert or fruit and another expresso. This isn’t “the” big meal of the day: we have two big meals per day and love it this way.

“Lanche” or afternoon snack: is mandatory for kids but most adults eat something before dinner too. About 6pm it’s time to bite another sandwich and drink some tea, or have some milk with cookies.

Dinner: at the end of the day (8 or 9pm) the family spends some time together and sits for more than one hour by the dinner table. In terms of food, it’s just like lunch but since the day is over, everyone takes their time to eat and talk.

When we have a dinner out with friends it never starts before 9pm and lasts up to two hours.

Supper: not everyone, but since we never go to bed before midnight, some people still eat some crackers or a piece of fruit before going to sleep.