The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with Western culture and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.

The earliest account of major services being catered in the United States was an event for William Howe of Philadelphia in 1778. The event served local foods that were a hit with the attendees, who eventually popularized catering as a career. The official industry began to be recognized around the 1820’s, with the caterers being disproportionately African-American.^[1] The catering business began to form around 1820, centered in Philadelphia.^[1][2]

The industry began to professionalize under the reigns of Robert Bogle who is recognized as "the originator of catering."^[2] Catering was originally done by servants of wealthy elites. Butlers and house slaves, which were often black, were in a good position to become caterers. Essentially, caterers in the 1860s were "public butlers" as they organized and executed the food aspect of a social gathering. A public butler was a butler working for several households. Bogle took on the role of public butler and took advantage of the food service market in the hospitality field.^[3]

Caterers like Bogle were involved with events likely to be catered today, such as weddings and funerals.^[3] Bogle also is credited with creating the Guild of Caterers and helping train other black caterers.^[3] This is important because catering provided not only jobs to black people but also opportunities to connect with elite members of Philadelphia society. Over time, the clientele of caterers became the middle class, who could not afford lavish gatherings and increasing competition from white caterers led to a decline in black catering businesses.^[3]

By the 1840s many restaurant owners began to combine catering services with their shops. Second-generation caterers grew the industry on the East Coast, becoming more widespread. ^[2] Common usage of the word "caterer" came about in the 1880s at which point local directories began to use these term to describe the industry.^[1] White businessmen took over the industry by the 1900’s, with the Black Catering population disappearing.^[1]

In the 1930s, the Soviet Union, creating more simple menus, began developing state public catering establishments as part of its collectivization policies.^[4] A rationing system was implemented during World War II, and people became used to public catering. After the Second World War, many businessmen embraced catering as an alternative way of staying in business after the war.^[5] By the 1960s, the home-made food was overtaken by eating in public catering establishments.^[4]

By the 2000s, personal chef services started gaining popularity, with more women entering the workforce.^{[citation needed]} People between 15 and 24 years of age spent as little as 11–17 minutes daily on food preparation and clean-up activities in 2006-2016, according to figures revealed by the American Time Use Survey conducted by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.^[6] There are many types of catering, including Event catering, Wedding Catering and Corporate Catering.

An event caterer serves food at indoor and outdoor events, including corporate and workplace events and parties at home and venues.

A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle, cart or truck which is designed for the purpose.^[7] Mobile catering is common at outdoor events such as concerts, workplaces, and downtown business districts. Mobile catering services require less maintenance costs when compared with other catering services. Mobile caterers may also be known as food trucks in some areas. Mobile catering is popular throughout New York City, though sometimes can be unprofitable.^[8] Ice cream vans are a familiar example of a catering truck in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.^[9]

Seat-back catering was a service offered by some charter airlines in the United Kingdom (e.g., Court Line, which introduced the idea in the early 1970s, and Dan-Air^[10]) that involved embedding two meals in a single seat-back tray. "One helping was intended for each leg of a charter flight, but Alan Murray, of Viking Aviation, had earlier revealed that 'with the ingenious use of a nail file or coin, one could open the inbound meal and have seconds'. The intention of participating airlines was to "save money, reduce congestion in the cabin and give punters the chance to decide when to eat their meal".^[11] By requiring less galley space on board, the planes could offer more passenger seats.^[12]

According to TravelUpdate's columnist, "The Flight Detective", "Salads and sandwiches were the usual staples," and "a small pellet of dry ice was put into the compartment for the return meal to try to keep it fresh."^[12] However, in addition to the fact that passengers on one leg were able to consume the food intended for other passengers on the following leg, there was a "food hygiene" problem,^[11] and the concept was discontinued by 1975.^[12]

A canapé caterer serves canapés at events. They have become a popular type of food at events, Christmas parties and weddings. A canapé is a type of hors d'oeuvre, a small, prepared, and often decorative food, consisting of a small piece of bread or pastry. They should be easier to pick up and not be bigger than one or two bites. The bite-sized food is usually served before the starter or main course or alone with drinks at a drinks party.

A wedding caterer provides food for a wedding reception and party, traditionally called a wedding breakfast.^[13] A wedding caterer can be hired independently or can be part of a package designed by the venue.^[14] Catering service providers are often skilled and experienced in preparing and serving high-quality cuisine.^[15][16][17] They offer a diverse and rich selection of food, creating a great experience for their customers. There are many different types of wedding caterers, each with their approach to food.

Merchant ships – especially ferries, cruise liners, and large cargo ships – often carry Catering Officers. In fact, the term "catering" was in use in the world of the merchant marine long before it became established as a land-bound business.^{[citation needed]}

Look up catering in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Aircraft ground handling
• Airline meal
• Food truck
• Gastronorm, a European standard for food container sizes
• Online food ordering

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Catering.

Part of a series on
Meals
Meals
Suhur Breakfast Second breakfast Elevenses Brunch Lunch Tea Merienda Tiffin Dinner Supper Iftar Siu yeh Snack Combination meal Kids' meal
Components and courses
Full-course dinner Tasting menu Amuse-bouche Hors d'oeuvre Soup Entrée Roast Main course Salad Side dish Entremets Dessert Savoury Meal preparation
Related concepts
À la carte Banquet Buffet Cuisine list Drink Eating Food Grazing History of breakfast Kamayan Table d'hôte Table manners Table setting
v t e

Brunch is a meal,^[1] sometimes accompanied taken sometime in the late morning or early afternoon – the universally accepted time is 11am-2pm, though modern brunch often extends as late as 3pm.^[2] The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast.^[3] The word brunch is a portmanteau of breakfast and lunch.^[4] The word originated in England in the late 19th century, and became popular in the United States in the 1930s.^[5]

The 1896 supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary cites Punch magazine, which wrote that the term was coined in Britain in 1895 to describe a Sunday meal for "Saturday-night carousers" in the writer Guy Beringer's article "Brunch: A Plea"^[6] in Hunter's Weekly.^[7][8]

Instead of England's early Sunday dinner, a postchurch ordeal of heavy meats and savory pies, the author wrote, why not a new meal, served around noon, that starts with tea or coffee, marmalade and other breakfast fixtures before moving along to the heavier fare

By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday-night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well.

"Brunch is cheerful, sociable and inciting", Beringer wrote. "It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week."

— William Grimes, "At Brunch, the More Bizarre the Better" New York Times, 1998^[9]

Despite the substantially later date it has also been claimed that the term was possibly coined by reporter Frank Ward O'Malley, who wrote in the early 20th century for the New York City newspaper, The Sun from 1906 until 1919.^[10] It is thought that he may have come up with the term after observing the typical mid-day eating habits of his colleagues at the newspaper.^[11][12]

Some colleges and hotels serve brunch, often serve-yourself buffets, although menu-ordered meals may be available as well. The meal usually consists of standard breakfast foods such as eggs, sausages, bacon, ham, fruits, pastries, pancakes, waffles, cereals, and scones.

The United States, Canada and United Kingdom militaries often serve weekend brunch in their messes. They offer breakfast and lunch options, and usually are open from 09:00–12:00.

The dim sum brunch is popular in Chinese restaurants worldwide.^[13] It consists of a variety of stuffed buns, dumplings, and other savory or sweet foods that have been steamed, deep-fried, or baked. Customers select small portions from passing carts, as the kitchen continuously produces and sends out freshly prepared dishes. Dim sum is usually eaten at a mid-morning, midday, or mid-afternoon teatime.

Brunch is prepared by restaurants and hotels for special occasions and holidays, such as weddings, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, and Easter.

The Chinese word "早午饭" (pinyin: zǎo wǔfàn) is defined as brunch, with "早饭" (zǎofàn; 早: morning, 饭: meal) meaning breakfast; and "午饭" (wǔfàn; 午: noon, 饭: meal) meaning lunch. The combination of "早饭" and "午饭" is thus "早午饭", brunch.

The Office québécois de la langue française accepts 'brunch' as a valid word but also provides a synonym déjeuner-buffet. Note that, however, in Quebec, déjeuner alone (even without the qualifying adjective petit) means 'breakfast'.^[14] In Quebec, the word—when francized—is pronounced [bʁɔ̃ʃ].^[15] The common pronunciation in France is [bʁœnʃ].

In Italian, the English loanword 'brunch' is generally used, though the neologism/calque colanzo is increasingly popular, being derived from colazione (breakfast) and pranzo (lunch).^[16] Even less common but occasionally used are colapranzo and pranzolazione, both derived from the same sources.^[17]

The usage of these terms varies in Italy, as different regions have different cultural definitions of mealtimes and their names. Traditional usage, particularly in northern Italy, included calling the first meal of the day prima colazione (first colazione), and the second meal either colazione or seconda colazione (second colazione), as distinguished from pranzo, the evening meal (now generally used as the term for the midday meal).^[18] In this scheme, a separate term for 'brunch' would not be necessary, as colazione could be used as a general term for any meal taken in the morning or early afternoon. Although Italian meal terminologies have generally shifted since widespread use of this naming scheme, the concept of a distinct mid-morning meal combining features of breakfast and lunch is largely one imported from the UK and North America in the last century, so the Anglicism 'brunch' is predominant.^[19]

The area now known as Leslieville neighbourhood is sometimes called the brunch capital of Toronto, as many renowned establishments serve brunch there.^[20] Brunch buffets also exist in other parts of Southern Ontario, including Kitchener-Waterloo.

In Canada, brunch is served in private homes and in restaurants. In both cases, brunch typically consists of the same dishes as would be standard in an American brunch, namely, coffee, tea, fruit juices, breakfast foods, including pancakes, waffles, and french toast; meats such as ham, bacon, and sausages; egg dishes such as scrambled eggs, omelettes, and eggs Benedict; bread products, such as toast, bagels or croissants; pastries or cakes, such as cinnamon rolls and coffee cake; and fresh cut fruit or fruit salad.^{[21][22][23][24][25][26]} Brunches may also include foods not typically associated with breakfast, such as roasted meats, quiche, soup, smoked salmon, sandwiches, and salads, such as Cobb salad.^{[21][22][25][27]}

When served at home or in a restaurant, a brunch may be offered buffet style,^[28] in which trays of foods and beverages are available and guests may serve themselves and select the items they want, often in an "all-you-can-eat" fashion.^[29] Restaurant brunches may also be served from a menu, in which case guests select specific items that are served by waitstaff. Restaurant brunch meals range from relatively inexpensive brunches available at diners and family restaurants to expensive brunches served at high-end restaurants and bistros.

Brunch in the Philippines is served between 9:00 am and noon. Contrary to what is observed in other countries, brunch in the afternoon, between 3:00 and 4:00 pm, is called merienda, a traditional snack carried over from Spanish colonialism.

• 
  A brunch on a ship, Lake Constance, Germany
• 
  A homemade brunch consisting of cooked eggs on toast and salad, accompanied by orange juice
• 
  A formal brunch buffet aboard the Celebrity Equinox
• 
  Cheeseburger as brunch
• 
  Coldcuts and cheeses with bread in a brunch buffet
• 
  Huevos rancheros as brunch

• Drag brunch
• Elevenses
• Israeli breakfast
• List of breakfast topics
• List of brunch foods
• Second breakfast

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Brunch: a plea

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brunch.

Look up brunch in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• "The Birth of Brunch: Where Did This Meal Come From Anyway?" Smithsonian.com
• Wikibooks Cookbook