Food, restaurants, eating at home

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Types of restaurants, fast food, school canteen

The restaurants can be divided into several categories based on their menu style, preparation methods, pricing and the way in which the food is served to the customer. The main types of restaurants are as follows:

• Ethnic – specialize in ethnic or national cuisines
  • Italian restaurant or pizzeria – restaurant that sells food typical for Italy, e.g. various kinds of pasta (spaghetti, gnocchi, lasagne, ravioli, penne), pizza, seafood, risottto, tomato sup.
  • Asian restaurant – sushi, noodles, rice
• Fast food – restaurants emphasizing speed of service. Food isn't ordered from the table, but from a front counter (or in some cases, using an electronic terminal). Diners then typically carry their own food from the counter to a table of their choosing, and afterward dispose any waste from their trays. Drive-through and take-out service may also be available. The food in fast food restaurants is usually less nutritionally valuable compared to other foods and dishes. Many fast foods tend to be high in saturated fat, sugar, slat and calories. Excessive consumption of the fast food has been linked to colorectal cancer, obesity, high cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases and depression.
• Fast casual – restaurants that do not offer full table service, but advertise higher quality food than fast food restaurants with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. Many fast casual restaurants offer non-disposable plates and cutlery.
• Casual dining – restaurant that serves moderately-priced food in a casual atmosphere. Except for buffet-style restaurants, casual dining restaurants typically provide table service. They comprise a market segment between fast food establishments and fine dining restaurants. Casual dining restaurants often have a full bar with separate bar staff and offer choice of alcoholic beverages.
• Premium Casual – restaurants typically featuring a decorated or modern dining room which offer high quality food in more informal settings than are traditional fine dining restaurants.
• Fine dining – full service restaurants with specific dedicated meal courses. Decoration of such restaurants features higher-quality materials, with establishments having certain rules of dining which visitors are generally expected to follow, often including a dress code.
• School canteen – a school canteen provides students with a meal, typically in the middle of the school day. The quality of food in school canteens varies, which is partly caused by inexperience or incompetence of some of the cooks, partly by lack of finances and policies restricting the choice of ingredients. However, the meals in the school canteens are often subsidized by the government and are therefore a common way of eating in school. In developing countries, school meals provide a motivation to send children to school and continue their education.

How to order a meal, how much should you tip

How to order a meal

First, you need to find a seat. At some restaurants, you might be directed to the seat by a waiter. Then you should look at the menu and decide what you're going to buy Then you have to wait for the waiter, who will take your order and tell it to the cook. If the waiter isn't coming, you can try to get their attention, though this can be considered rude if you do so in a noisy or impatient way. Then, you have to wait until your food is ready. Alternatively, you may order your meal over the phone or on the Internet. The food can then be delivered directly to your house.

How much should you tip

Tips and their amount are a matter of social custom and etiquette, and the custom varies between countries and settings. In some countries tipping is discouraged and considered insulting; while in some other locations tipping is expected from customers.

Czech Republic

Although it is customary to tip in the Czech Republic, it has very little to do with the size of the bill, and more to do with a sign of appreciation. It is common to round up the bill by a few crowns to make it even. Tipping in better restaurants is a standard 10%, and is not normally added to the bill.

United Kingdom

In many restaurants with table service, a 'service charge' on the bill replaces a tip; in the absence of a service charge, a tip of about 10-15% is customary. It is less usual to tip in cafés and coffee shops. Many restaurants will allow tips to be added to a credit card bill, but it is generally considered better to leave cash at the table.

United States

Tipping is practiced social custom in the United States. In restaurants offering traditional table service, a gratuity of 15-20% of the amount of a customer's check is customary when adequate service is provided. In buffet-style restaurants where the server brings only beverages, 10% is customary.

Japan, China & East Asia

Tipping is not part of the culture. It is not expected and cause confusion or even be considered insulting.

Your favorite meals, your favorite recipe. Do you cook yourself?

• Favorite meals – pizza, various kinds of pasta, seafood (mussels, octopus), steaks, schnitzel with potato salad...
• Favorite recipe: lasagne
  • Preheat oven to ~180°C
  • Put the noodles on the baking tray (use parchment paper) and cover them with tomato sauce, cheese and ham.
  • Make sure to cover the whole upper layer with cheese and sauce, otherwise it might get burnt.
  • Bake in preheated oven for ~50 minutes.
  • Done

Typical Czech meal

Traditional Czech food is hearty and quite fatty. Therefore, it is usually not eaten everyday and some people avoid it entirely. A traditional meal of a day (usually lunch) consists of two or three courses. The first dish is traditionally soup, the second course is the main dish (often based on meat), and the third course can include supplementary courses, such as desert or compote.

Common Czech soups:

• Beef, chicken or vegetable broth with noodles, optionally served with liver dumplings
• Garlic soup with croutons, sometimes served with ham, raw egg, or cheese
• Cabbage, pea, bean and lentil soups
• Goulash soup made of beef cut into small pieces and cooked with other ingredients
• Potato soup made from potato, onion, carrot, root parsley and celeriac
• Fish soup typical for Czech Christmas
• Mushroom soup

Common Czech meat dishes:

• Goulash – usually made from beef or pork with onions and spices. There are also vegetarian varieties with cabbage of potatoes. It is usually served with dumplings or bread.
• Beef sirloin in cream sauce (svíčková) – beef with a thick sauce of carrot, parsley root, celeriac and sometimes cream. It is often served with dumplings and cranberries.
• Schnitzel – small slices of veal, pork or chicken covered with coat made of flour, bread crumb and whisked egg, which are fried on both sides. It is commonly served with potato side-dishes.
• Roast pork with dumplings and cabbage – often considered the most typical Czech dish.

One of the most common side dishes are the dumplings, which can be either wheat or potato-based, and are sometimes made from a combination of wheat flour and dices made of stale bread or rolls. Smaller Czech dumplings are usually potato-based. Other side dishes include noodles, boiled or risotto rice, potatoes (often served with butter, pork fat or oil) and mashed potatoes.

Healthy eating

Healthy diet should provide the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients (esp. carbohydrate, protein, and lipids), micronutrients (e.g. vitamins, minerals) and adequate calories. A healthy diet supports energy needs and provides for human nutrition without excessive weight gain from consuming more calories than the body requires. The World Health Organization formulated five basic guidelines for healthy diet:

• Eat roughly the same number of calories that your body is using.
• Limit intake of fates. Not more than 30% of the total calories should come from fats. Prefer unsaturated fats to saturated fats.
• Eat at least 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per day. A healthy diet also contains pulses (lentils, beens...), whole grains and nuts.
• Reduce the intake of simple sugars to less than 10% of calories.
• Limit salt / sodium from all sources and ensure that salt is iodized. Less than 5 grams of salt per day can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Unhealthy diet may result in development of lifestyle diseases, such us type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and stroke. It is estimated that over 2 billion adults suffer from overweight.