[1] An omelet is one of those dishes that works for any meal of the day (photo © Bonefish Grill).

[2] How about eggs on top of waffles, pancakes, or French toast, with savory garnishes: smoked salmon, bacon, ham, caramelized onions, fresh herbs…(photo © National Honey Board).

[3] How about these BLT pancakes? Here’s the recipe (photo © Tiegen Gerard for Wisconsin Cheese).

[4] Savory oatmeal with cheddar, bell pepper, onions, and a fried egg Here’s the recipe (photo © Lisa Lin | Healthy Nibbles).

[5] Shakshouka is a Middle Eastern breakfast dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. Here’s the recipe. In Israel, it’s eaten for dinner as well (photo © Zavor).

After a long day of tasting foods for THE NIBBLE, we often welcome a simple dinner of cereal, eggs or French toast. But we are not alone; we’re part of the 90 percent!

Krusteaz, maker of premium pancake, waffle, cupcake, and other baking mixes, has just released the results of its annual breakfast survey, a national poll conducted by an independent research firm*.

Based on the results, Krusteaz suggests a new food-focused night on the order of Meatless Mondays and Taco Tuesdays: Wednesdays, Breakfast Night.

> Check out all of the focus nights, below.

> February 3rd is National Breakfast Day, just one of 115 breakfast holidays.

> The history of breakfast.

> The history of all meals in the Western tradition is below.
 
 
WHAT MAKES BREAKFAST NIGHT SO POPULAR?

Breakfast for Dinner continues to be a popular trend in the U.S.

 
In a shift from 2014, more kids are helping out in the kitchen. Thirty-nine percent of responders said that Breakfast Night preparation is a “joint effort,” compared to just 17% of last year’s survey participants.

In our house, reason #2 is the big winner.

 
Families with children at home are more likely to use Breakfast Night as family night, when Dad’s in charge, and for celebratory occasions such as birthdays, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF MEAL TIMES

The history of meal times could fill a large book. The number of meals consumed per day differs greatly from culture to culture, by era and by socioeconomic status.

In Europe alone, the name of the meal and time of day vary widely. Depending on the era, dinner could be in the morning or late afternoon.

In the millennia before electricity, people lived differently than we do, typically retiring at nightfall. In the winter, that meant the last meal of the day was what we might call a late lunch.

Thanks to FoodTimeline.org for most of this information:

 
MODERN TIMES: FOCUS ON “FOOD NIGHTS”

Through popular culture, certain nights has been designated to celebrate certain foods. While Meatless Monday may seem like a modern concept, it is a revival of an idea that originated with the need to ration certain foods during World War I (the history of Meatless Monday is in the footnote†).

Some religious groups have particular observations, such as Fish on Fridays‡.

Some countries have evolved traditions, like Gnocchi Day in Argentina (Día de Ñoquis), celebrated on the 29th of every month (it originated in the late 19th century with Italian immigrants).

With the growth of the Internet, it’s relatively easy to create a viral movement. We now have:

 
Internet/social media-created themes include:

 
Some are alliterative fun that provides a marketing boost. Others try to create a positive action.

For example, Sushi Monday has been promulgated by Japanese restaurants to counter a belief perpetuated by Anthony Bourdain, whose book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly” advised restaurant-goers not order fish on Monday.

He explained that Friday is the last day of the week when restaurants can order fresh fish from their suppliers, so anything served on Monday is not fresh.

However, this does not apply to raw fish, whether served at Japanese restaurants (sushi, sashimi) or elsewhere (salmon tartare and yellowtail crudo, for example). By law, this fish must be frozen as soon as it arrives fresh.

Food Code (3-402.11-12) of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), requires that all fish that is served or sold either raw or under-cooked must be first frozen to destroy any parasites. This requirement includes the serving and sale of “Sushi” in restaurants, bars and retail food stores.

So feel free to enjoy sushi any day of the week.
 
________________

*The Breakfast for Dinner survey was conducted by ORC International on behalf of Krusteaz. Findings are based on an online survey of 2,033 U.S. adults ages 18 and older in August 2015.

†The history of Meatless Monday: Originally, Meatless Monday began in 1917 during World War I as a U.S. government campaign to conserve food supplies. It was revived during World War II for similar reasons. However, in the 21st century, the campaign shifted focus to health benefits and environmental sustainability, encouraging people to reduce meat consumption to lower their carbon footprint, conserve water, and improve overall well-being.

The modern Meatless Monday movement was launched in 2003 as a sustainability and health initiative by Sid Lerner (1930–2021), an American advertising executive and public health advocate, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Since its revival, Meatless Monday has spread globally, with participation from schools, restaurants, and governments promoting plant-based eating at least once a week.

‡“Fish on Fridays” is a Christian practice that involves abstaining from eating warm-blooded animals on Fridays. The practice honors the sacrifice of Jesus, who died on a Friday. The practice is observed by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Methodist churches.

[1] A classic presentation of Wiener Schnitzel, Austria’s national dish, with parsley potatoes and lemon (photo © The Nibble).

[2] Buttered noodles can replace the potatoes. Here’s a video recipe (photo © Tastemade).

[3] Veal cutlets, or scallops, are typically cut from the leg (photo © Mon Épicier Bio).

[4] There are lots of great garnishes for Wiener Schnitzel. We like capers and lemon and parsley. Add sardines to turn the dish into a surf-and-turf with a great combination of flavors (photo © The Nibble).

Updated September 2026

Wiener Schnitzel (pronounced VEE-ner, not WEE-ner) is the national dish of Austria and a standard of Continental cuisine. In The Sound Of Music, Maria sang about “Schnitzel with noodles” as “one of my favorite things.”

If it’s one of yours, September 9th is National Wiener Schnitzel Day. Head to the butcher for some Schnitzel.

> What is Wiener Schnitzel?

> Wiener Schnitzel recipe.

> The history of Wiener Schnitzel.

> The cousin of Wiener Schnitzel: chicken-fried steak.

> The year’s 20+ German and Austrian food holidays.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> German potato salad recipe.

 
 
1. WHAT IS WIENER SCHNITZEL?

Wiener Schnitzel is a pounded-thin, breaded, cutlet of veal or pork, coated in breadcrumbs, fried, and served with a slice of lemon.

It’s traditionally served with a simple green salad or cucumber-dill salad, plus German potato salad (which contains bacon) or boiled parsley potatoes.

• These days, you’ll find fries substituted for the potatoes/potato salad.
• Buttered noodles are another option (photo #2).

Lingonberry jam is a popular condiment. You can find it at better food stores, Ikea (it’s Swedish in origin), or online.

If there’s any left, it’s delicious on toast, pancakes and waffles, or vanilla ice cream.

The Meaning Of Wiener Schnitzel

The name Wiener Schnitzel, from German, translates literally to “Viennese cutlet.”

• Wiener is the German demonym* meaning “from Vienna” (Wien is the German name for Vienna).
• Schnitzel comes from the German word Schnitz, meaning a slice, cut, or chip (itself a diminutive of Schnitte, meaning slice).

In Austria, the term is protected by law; “Wiener Schnitzel” assures you of a veal cutlet.

• Since veal is pricey, a less expensive Austrian alternative uses pork (Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein).
• The recipe can also be made with beef, chicken, mutton, pork, turkey, boar, and reindeer—any meat that can be cut into thin slices.
• Just call it Chicken Schnitzel or Reindeer Schnitzel instead of Wiener Schnitzel.

 
 
2. RECIPE: WIENER SCHNITZEL

While home cooks tend to pan-fry Wiener Schnitzel, professional chefs will deep-fry it, as in the recipe below. However, feel free to pan fry.

This recipe is from Kurt Gutenbrunner, Austrian-born chef and owner of Wallsé in New York City, where he creates fine Austrian cuisine that reflects contemporary tastes and classic traditions. He is the author of Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna.

We’ve added our own touch to Chef Gutenbrunner’s recipe: our Nana’s preferred garnishes of capers, sardines, and sliced gherkins. Think of it as “surf and turf” Wiener Schnitzel.

Our favorite sides are cucumber salad and boiled parsley potatoes; but like Maria, we could go for some buttered egg noodles with parsley and cracked pepper.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more for seasoning
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 cups fine plain dried breadcrumbs
• 1/2 pound veal scallops (leg) or eye round, cut across the grain into 4 equal pieces
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges
• Curly parsley or lettuce
• Optional garnishes: capers, lemon wedge, parsley, sardines, sliced gherkins

1. LINE a large baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels.

2. WHISK the flour and 1 teaspoon salt in a wide shallow bowl. Lightly whisk the eggs and cream in another wide shallow bowl until the yolks and whites are just streaky. Mix breadcrumbs and 2 teaspoons salt in a third wide shallow bowl.

3. POUND the veal slices between sheets of plastic wrap to 1/8”–1/16” thickness, being careful not to tear. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

4. PROP a deep-fry thermometer in a large, deep skillet. Pour in the oil so that the bulb is submerged. Heat oil over medium heat to 350°F. Add butter to skillet and adjust heat to maintain 350°F.

5. DREDGE 2 veal slices in the flour mixture and shake off the excess. Dip in the egg mixture, turn to coat, and shake off excess. Dredge in the breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere. Shake off the excess and transfer the veal to the skillet. Using a large spoon, carefully baste the top of the veal with the hot oil.

6. COOK until the breading puffs and starts to brown, about 1 minute. Turn and cook until browned, about 1 minute longer. Transfer to a paper towel-lined sheet. Repeat with the remaining veal slices.

7. ASSEMBLE: Place the veal on individual plates. Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley or lettuce.
 

[5] Lingonberry jam, originally from Sweden, can be found at Ikea, specialty stores, and online (photo © Sanniti Lingonberries).
 
 
3. THE HISTORY OF WIENER SCHNITZEL

According to legend, Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, an Austrian general, brought the recipe from Italy to Vienna in 1857. But this story was invented, like George Washington and the cherry tree. Here’s what we know from the historical record:

• A recipe for thinly sliced meat, breaded and fried, appears in the only remaining ancient Roman cookbook, published in the 4th or 5th century by “Apicius”†.
• In the Middle Ages, breaded, fried veal was a very popular dish in both Northern Italy and what is now Austria.
• Cotoletta Milanese, a bone-in veal chop that is breaded and fried, dates to a 1134 banquet at the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan.
• Before Wiener Schnitzel there was another popular Viennese dish, Backhendl: thin chicken breast slices, breaded and deep fried. It was first mentioned in a cookbook from 1719 [source].
• The term “Wiener Schnitzel” dates to at least 1862 [source].

 
While the exact naming convention became formally standardized in Austrian cookbooks in the 19th century to honor Vienna as its culinary home, the concept of breading and frying thin slices of meat has older roots that trace back through Italian (Milanese) and Byzantine traditions**.

Far from being a German dish, Wiener Schnitzel is so distinctly Austrian that Germans across Austria’s northern border refer to Austrians as Schnitzelfressers (Schnitzel munchers).

Wiener Schnitzel itself seems to have fallen out of fashion in the U.S., but its spirit lives on in the American dish, chicken-fried steak.
 
 
4. CHICKEN-FRIED STEAK or COUNTRY FRIED STEAK

A Texas specialty, Chicken-Fried Steak is the American version of Wiener Schnitzel. It’s credited to German immigrants in the Texas Hill Country, who found themselves with plenty of available beef and a paucity of veal.

Instead of a tenderized veal cutlet, a tenderized cut of beef (a cube steak) is coated with seasoned flour and pan-fried. The preparation gets its name from its resemblance to fried chicken.

In a redundant twist, a dish called Chicken-Fried Chicken, pounds, breads, and pan-fries a chicken cutlet.

This preparation is distinctively different from regular fried chicken, which breads bone-in chicken parts and deep-fries them.

Here’s the recipe for the photo below.
 

[6] Chicken-fried steak was invented in Texas, where there’s much more steak than veal (photo © Taste Of Home).
 
 
5. THE YEAR’S 20+ GERMAN & AUSTRIAN FOOD HOLIDAYS

• January 13: National Sauerkraut Day
• January 18: Baltic Porter Day
• February to March (date varies): Fasching (Shrove Tuesday), celebrated with Krapfen (jelly donuts)
• March 20: Bock Beer Day
• March 28: National Black Forest Cake Day
• April 7: National Beer Day
• April 11: King Gambrinus Day (legendary king and unofficial patron saint of beer)
• April 23: German Beer Day (Tag des Deutschen Bier)
• April 26: National Pretzel Day
• Spring through June 24: Spargelzeit, the German/Austrian white-asparagus season, a major food observance
• June 11: National German Chocolate Cake Day (NOT a German holiday‡)
• June 17: National Apple Strudel Day (Austrian)
• July to August: Wachau apricot harvest celebrated with Marillenknödel, apricot dumplings
• August, 1st Friday: International Beer Day
• August 16: National Bratwurst Day
• September 9: National Wiener Schnitzel Day
• Late September–early October: Oktoberfest
• November 11: St. Martin’s Day/Martinstag: roast goose—Martinigans or Martinigansl—is the traditional celebratory meal
• December 6: St. Nicholas Day (Nikolaustag)‡‡
• December 10: National Lager Day
• December 31 to January 1: Austrian New Year lucky foods, pork and lentils

**The historical trail generally unfolds through these phases:

> The Byzantine Influence: Food scholars have found early references to breaded and fried meat dishes that were popular in Constantinople during the medieval era. During the Renaissance, a culinary custom developed in Venice of “gilding” foods (coating them to look like gold leaf). When that practice was restricted, cooks began using breadcrumbs to achieve that same golden, fried appearance.

> The Italian (Milanese) Evolution: Milan has long claimed a direct ancestor to the dish in the Cotoletta alla Milanese, with archival records pointing to breaded veal chops (lombolos cum panitio) served in Milan as far back as the 12th century.

> The Austrian Formalization: The popular legend that General Radetzky brought the recipe back from Italy in the 19th century has been largely debunked by historians who have found similar recipes in Austrian cookbooks a bit earlier. However, the cross-pollination of ideas across the Alps heavily influenced how Vienna refined, named, and eventually protected the dish.

†The cookbook is thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century C.E. and given the title De Re Coquinaria (“On the Subject of Cooking”). The name Apicius had long been associated with an excessively refined love of food, exemplified by Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet who lived sometime in the 1st century C.E. The author of the book is one Caelius Apicius; however, no person by this name otherwise exists in the historical record. The book was no doubt compiled by a person or persons who wished to remain anonymous. [Source]

‡Many people think German chocolate is German. It isn’t: It’s a milder, sweeter type of baking chocolate invented in 1852 by Samuel German, an English immigrant who worked in Boston for Walter Baker & Company. It was originally called Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate. The recipe for German chocolate cake comes from Texas. (Milk chocolate would not be invented until 1876, by Daniel Peter in Vevey, Switzerland. Here’s the scoop.

‡‡St. Nicholas Day is a traditional Christian feast day celebrated on December 6th or the evening of December 5th. It honors Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra (modern-day Turkey) during the 4th century, who inspired the modern figure of Santa Claus. He was famous for his secret acts of kindness. His Dutch name, Sinterklaas, evolved into “Santa Claus” when the tradition spread to North America. Consider celebrating with apple strudel, Lebkuchen (gingerbread), Kaiserschmarrn (shredded pancake), mulled wine and punch, roasted chestnuts, Sachertorte, sausages, stollen, and Vanillekipferl.
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

Now, the Smucker’s team has charmed us with a new line: Fruit & Honey fruit spreads, sweetemed with honey instead of sugar. And it’s just enough honey to sweeten, but not be too sweet. One tablespoon has just 35 calories.

You also taste the honey in each bite. It’s a really nice departure from sugar-sweetened jams, and well worth trying. Even the shape of the jar is alluring.

In addition to toast and PB&J or PB&B sandwiches, the Smucker’s shows how to create delicious and very easy recipes.

 
How many more ways can you use fruit spread? See our list below.

Smucker’s Fruit & Honey fruit spreads are available at Walmart, Target, Publix and Safeway and other retailers nationwide. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) is $3.49 for a 9-ounce jar.
 
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JAM & FRUIT SPREAD?

The difference is in the level of sweetness. Some jams can be cloyingly sweet. A good fruit spread isn’t.

Jam consists of chopped, crushed or puréed fruit cooked down with sugar—a recipe as old as refined sugar. Fruit spread began to appear in the 1970s as a reduced-calorie product, made with alternative sweeteners such as juice concentrate. The honey in Smucker’s fruit spreads makes it so superior to others we’ve tasted.

There are distinct differences between chutney, conserve, jelly, jams, marmalades and the other types of sweet spreads. Take a look.
 

MORE WAYS TO USE FRUIT SPREAD OR JAM

In Breakfast Dishes

 
At Lunch

 
Dinner

 
Dessert