Elevenses

Elevenses (/ɪˈlɛvənzɪz/) is a short break taken at around 11:00 a.m. to consume a drink or snack. The names and details vary among countries.

Regional variations

Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand have "morning tea" that occurs at approximately 10:30 a.m. This is often a break from work that is formally codified into some workplace agreements.^[1] It is standard practice for schools to have a morning tea break for students, which may be colloquially known as little lunch.^[2] Many workplaces organise an event or celebration during morning tea in order to welcome new employees, say farewell colleagues who are leaving (eg retirement), to commemorate special occasions such as birthdays, or simply as a regular social event for staff to get together.

Farmers, shearers and tradespeople in both countries often refer to this mid-morning break as a smoko, which has origins in having a break for smoking. However, despite the literal meaning, the phrase is in common use by non-smokers, who may simply partake in having a cup of tea or coffee instead at this time.

Belgium

In Flemish, this type of snack is called "tienuurtje", lit. 'a little (one of) 10 o'clock'.^[3] A tienuurtje typically consists of one or more cookies or some piece of fruit and may be accompanied by fruit juice or chocolate milk. Many parents give their children a tienuurtje to eat during the mid-morning school break. A similar type of snack for the afternoon break is called "vieruurtje", lit. 'little (one of) 4 o'clock'.

Chile

In Chile, elevenses is observed under the name las once or la once (in Spanish, once means 'eleven'). However, in Chile it has shifted to the afternoon, sometimes replacing the traditional dinner.^[4]

In the 2010–11 National Food Consumption Survey, around 80% of the Chileans reported having once. This is due to once sometimes replacing the traditional dinner in Chile, which only 30% of the population reported having. Here, traditional dinner means a proper meal with vegetables, meat, poultry and fish. La once resembles a light version of British High Tea.^[5]

An alternative widespread, but unfounded, popular etymology for the word in Chile is that priests (in other versions, workers or women) used the phrase tomar las once (Spanish: 'drink the eleven') in reference to the eleven letters of the word Aguardiente to conceal the fact that they were drinking during the day.^[5]

Colombia

In Colombia, it is common to have a snack named onces. It consists mainly of hot chocolate or coffee with arepa, bread, or crackers, usually taken around 17:00. In the morning, the snack consist of the same type of food but it is called "medias nueves". It is served generally between 09-11:00.

Germany

In Germany, 10:30 a.m. is a popular time for workers who started early (like craftspeople, builders, …) to eat a snack. Most people nowadays will attribute German self-awareness of this to an advertisement for Knoppers, a chocolate-covered wafer bar, with the saying "Morgens, halb Zehn, in Deutschland…" ("In the morning, 9:30, in Germany…"), that had become its own meme. But in reality, since those workers work very hard, the most common snacks include filled rolls, e.g. Mettbrötchen (raw pork mince), Leberkäse (comparable to trick baloney), Schnitzel, three small sausages (Wiener or Nürnberger), etc., all preferably warm; or just cold cuts.

Hungary

Elevenses in Hungarian is called "tízórai", which translates to 'of the 10 o'clock', referring to "the meal of the 10 o'clock". This is a break between breakfast and lunch, when it is time for a light meal or snack. In a school environment, the early lunch break is called "tízórai". Parallel to the word elevenses, tízórai is often called Tenses "Tenzeez" by Hungarian-Americans and Hungarian-Britons.

India

In certain parts of rural India, especially in northern states, such as Punjab, it is normal practice to take a tea break two or three hours after breakfast. When the practice began, there was no set clock and break was usually between 10–11 a.m., so as in other countries it was named after the approximate time; Das-Baja, meaning '10 o'clock tea'.

The practice is slowly becoming obsolete in cities and towns, especially in professional jobs, but in rural areas; such breaks at that time for manual and agricultural labourers are still very popular.

Israel

In Israel, it is called ארוחת עשר (arukhat eser, Hebrew for '10 o'clock meal'), mostly eaten at schools and pre-schools in the form of homemade sandwiches, often accompanied with a fruit or other snack, after the second hour of the school day and before the so-called "small break". It also occurs in major unionised workplaces, such as factories and call centres, where workers are given tea to drink.

Netherlands

In West Friesland, country people had a similar meal called "konkelstik" (served at konkeltiid, the proper time for konkelen, a verb denoting "making a visit").^[6]^[7]

Poland

In Poland, the drugie śniadanie (lit. 'second breakfast') is eaten in the mid-morning. Rather than a heavy chunk of sausage or other meat, though, like the German second breakfast, Poles prefer sandwiches or a light, dessert-like pastry (e.g. sweet roll) or sweet with a hot drink, more similar to the American "coffee break".^[8]

Slovakia

In Slovakia, desiata (lit. 'tenth', from "tenth hour") can be eaten at or around 10 a.m.. It usually consists of a small snack, fruit, or a sandwich, i.e. a lighter meal, so as not to fill the stomach before lunch. In schools, the break between classes around 10 a.m. is referred to as desiatová prestávka (lit. 'tenth break' or 'break for the tenth') and may be a few minutes longer than other breaks, to give the students time to eat their desiata. Note: although the word desiata is grammatically an ordinal numeral, it is treated as a noun in this context.

Spain

In Spain, it is not uncommon to have a short meal break around 11:00 a.m., particularly in jobs of intense physical activity; this can range from a hot drink paired with light snacks like pastries to a sandwich, scrambled eggs or a piece of Spanish omelette (also known as a pincho). This meal is sometimes known as almuerzo, although this word is used inconsistently and mostly just means 'lunch'. However, lunchtime in Spain can be as late as 3:00 p.m., which conditions mid-morning customs.

In the Basque Country, in particular, it is common to have a mid-morning snack consisting of high-protein food like eggs, bacon, or cured meat on bread, called "hamarretako" (lit. '10 o'clock (snack)') or "hamaiketako" (lit. '11 o'clock (snack)').

Sweden

In Sweden, it is common to drink coffee at 11:00 a.m., elvakaffe (lit. 'coffee at eleven'), often with a few biscuits or a light sandwich.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, there is a Znüni ('(Meal) at nine', following the nomenclature of Breakfast (Zmorge), Lunch (Zmittag), afternoon snack at four (Zvieri) and Dinner (Znacht)). The name, despite referring to a specific time, stays the same no matter the actual time of the snack break; especially in schools, it is usually at 10:00 a.m..

United Kingdom

Elevenses, eaten at 11:00 a.m. as the name suggests, typically consists of tea or coffee, often with a few biscuits. Sometimes, cake or other snacks are eaten instead.^[9]

United States

During the first decades of the 19th century, elevenses consisted of drinking whiskey.^[10] In modern times, hourly workers take a break known as a coffee break, typically around 10:00 a.m., or in the first third of a work shift.^{[citation needed]} Often, this is done in a break room, and small snacks may be eaten as well.

It is common for school children to have a short snack break, called "morning snack". This is offered in the morning before lunch, usually between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. In Wisconsin and some other Midwestern states, this break is called "milk break" with students served a small carton of milk.

In popular culture

In A.A. Milne’s ‘’Winnie-the-Pooh’’, Pooh arrives at Rabbit’s house for elevenses. When offered a choice between condensed milk or honey on his bread, Pooh responds “both – but never mind the bread.”

Paddington Bear often took elevenses at the antique shop on Portobello Road run by his friend Mr Gruber,^[11] for which Paddington would buy buns and Mr Gruber would make cocoa.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, elevenses is one of the many meals that is enjoyed by the Hobbits of the Shire, served daily between second breakfast and luncheon. In addition, a party is implied to be particularly lavish in that food was served "continuously from elevenses until six-thirty".^[12]

In Fireman Sam, Dilys Price regularly took elevenses at Bella Lasagne's café.

References

^ Fair Work Commission. "Health Professionals and Support Services Award 2020". Commonwealth of Australia.
^ Macquarie Dictionary Publishers (2023). Little lunch (Online ed.). Sydney.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Het Vlaams woordenboek: tienuurtje". Het Vlaams woordenboek.
^ Collier, Simon (2004). A History of Chile, 1808-2002. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53484-4.
^ ^a ^b Fredes, Cristóbal (November 15, 2014). "El significado de la once" (SHTML). www.latercera.com. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
^ Thijs, J. G. A. (1984). Taal ter sprake (in Dutch). Nijgh & Van Ditmar. p. 40. ISBN 9789023655930. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
^ ter Horst-Hoekstra, A. C. (1953). "'t Pistoal: Een Westfriese historie (1870-1878)". De Speelwagen (in Dutch). 8 (10): 303–12. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2012-12-25.
^ Preparing a Polish meal last visited 2020-04-17
^ Harper, Timothy (1997). Passport United Kingdom: Your Pocket Guide to British Business, Customs and Etiquette. World Trade Press. ISBN 1-885073-28-3.
^ Pollan, Michael (12 October 2003). "The (agri)cultural contradictions of obesity". The New York Times Magazine. The way we live now.
^ Bond, Michael (1997). Paddington abroad. London: Collins. p. 14. ISBN 0007402570.
^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a). The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Chapter 1: A Long-Expected Party. OCLC 9552942.