Estudio de la composición corporal

People of the United States usually eat three meals a day, with breakfast around 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. , lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and dinner around 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Breakfast may be cereal and juice or eggs, pancakes, or waffl es served with bacon or sausage and toast or muffi ns. Skipping

breakfast is not uncommon for working adults. Lunch is usually some-thing light, such as a sandwich, soup, or salad. The largest meal of the day is dinner, which typically consists of meat and potatoes, rice, /or pasta with vegetables, salad, and dessert. Sunday brunch (which combines breakfast and lunch) is a bit different: It is served between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

and includes a variety of foods, including fruits and pastries as well as pancakes or waffl es, meats, and egg dishes. Fast foods and takeout meals are popular—these may be consumed at the desk, while driving, or taken home to share with the family. Although coffee is the preferred drink in the United States, it is quite weak compared to the coffee served in other countries. Decaffeinated coffee, which is unavailable in some countries, is popular in the United States. Some people prefer tea, but it is often served iced. In fact, if you order tea in a southern U.S. restaurant, the server will assume you wish it served cold with ice unless you specifi cally order hot tea. Milk, soft drinks, beer, and wine are other popular beverages. The country really does not have a national dish; some foods, however, seem to be associated with a specifi c region, such as barbeque in the South.

In Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and most other countries of South America, breakfast is eaten between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., lunch is around noon to 3 p.m., and dinner between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. An afternoon refreshment break around 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. consisting of coffee or tea and a light snack is common. Lunch is the largest meal of the day and typi-cally lasts two hours. South Americans usually have more courses than is common in the United States. In addition to coffee and tea (often served as café con leche and té con leche —coffee or tea with milk), various alcoholic beverages are served. Pisco, a liquor made from grapes and served as a pisco sour or pisco and Coke, is popular in such countries as Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. In Mexico, alcoholic drinks, in addition to the popular tequila, include mescal, an after-dinner drink made from the maguey plant. (Incidentally, the worm in the bottle is often eaten by Mexicans.) Food specialties vary somewhat with the country. Beef is popular in Argentina and Uruguay, as are some other foods that are uncommon in many countries: intestines, cow brains, and kidneys. Brazilian food has a lot of fl avor; in some areas the food is quite spicy. Arroz con leche and arroz con pollo (rice with milk and rice with chicken, respectively) are popular dishes in most South American countries.

In European countries, a light breakfast of coffee or tea and some type of bread is eaten between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., lunch is around 1 p.m., and dinner is about 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. In some countries of Europe, the main meal of the day is lunch, whereas in others it is dinner. In the countries in which lunch is a light meal, foods commonly eaten include yogurt,

sandwiches, salad, or cheese. Food specialties include moussaka in Greece (eggplant, ground lamb, and cheese), caldo verde (sometimes called “green soup,” which is made of kale and mashed potatoes) in Portugal, and the various fi sh and seafood dishes (including whale meat) in Norway. Special alcoholic drinks include ouzo (an anise-fl avored liqueur) and retsina (a resin-fl avored wine) in Greece; jenever (gin fl a-vored with juniper berries) in the Netherlands; aguardente (a strong local brandy) in Portugal; glogg (a hot, spiced wine with liquor) in Sweden, especially at Christmas; marjalikööri and lakka (berry liqueurs) in Finland; and aquavit (from potatoes) in the Scandinavian countries, especially Denmark. Tapas bars are popular in Spain and Portugal; they feature appetizers of snails, squid, shrimps, and octopus served with such drinks as wine and beer. The smorgasbord (similar to a U.S. all-you-can-eat buffet) is popular in Sweden.

In many Asian countries, breakfast is served around 6 a.m. or 7 a.m., lunch is at noon to 1:30 p.m., and dinner, the largest meal of the day, may be from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. or 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Breakfast in China may be 1,000-year-old eggs (duck eggs that have been buried in lime, ashes, and mud for three to four months) or rice dishes; lunch might be stir-fried veg-etables and soup; dinner usually has a variety of meat dishes served with vegetables, soup, and boiled rice. Alcoholic beverages in China include mao tai (a sorghum-based wine) and shao xing (a red wine made of rice and served warm); local beers, such as Beijing and Tsing Tao, are also served warm. The alcoholic beverage for which Japan is well known is sake, which is made from rice and served warm. In the Philippines, rice is cooked and served with other foods, such as meat and vegetables. Soft drinks and fruit juices are more popular beverages than tea and coffee.

Wine and beer are the primary alcoholic beverages, which are typically consumed by men only. In India, their dinner hour is later than in many Asian countries—8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.— so a snack of tea and biscuits may be served around 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Alcohol is prohibited in some parts of India; the typical drinks are tea and strong coffee, depending upon whether you are in the northern or the southern part of India. Food can be quite spicy; thus, paan (betel leaves stuffed with several spices) will be served at the meal’s conclusion to aid in digestion.

U.S. customs that are not shared by people in many other countries include being direct when asked about their appetite and eating rapidly.

Americans will often say “I’m starved” when invited to lunch. Such a statement would be very bad manners in Asia. In Asian countries, peo-ple will usually say that they are not hungry regardless of whether they are or not. When dining in Asia, fi nishing a meal before others at the table have fi nished implies that you are still hungry. Americans should

pace themselves so that they fi nish at the same time as their Asian counterparts.