Brotzeit

What it means

1. 1.

   A cold snack meal — bread, cold cuts, cheese, radish, maybe Obatzda — and equally the break in which you eat it. Mid-morning on a building site, mid-afternoon on a hike, or all evening in a beer garden.

2. 2.

   Bavarian and Austrian. The Swabian word is Vesper, the northern Abendbrot is specifically the evening meal, and the beer garden's legal right to bring your own Brotzeit is a point of genuine local pride.

Literally: Bread time.

Examples with translations

• Machen wir erst mal Brotzeit.

  Let's stop for a bite first.

• Ich hab die Brotzeit dabei.

  I've brought the picnic stuff.

Where it comes from

A straightforward Bavarian compound of Brot and Zeit, recorded since the 19th century in the sense of the working man's bread break. The institution is older than the word.

Other forms

Similar terms:

Vesper, Marende