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Food

This Court Just Ruled That Bread and Coffee Aren’t a Real Breakfast

According to judges in Germany, the first meal of the day should include cold meats, cheeses, and spreads.
Photo via Flickr userChristian Schnettelker

A typical breakfast differs depending on where you are in the world. Find yourself in northern Mexico and you might start the day with a meat-stuffed gordita. In southern India or Sri Lanka, medu vada—a doughnut-shaped fritter—could be on the menu. For those breakfasting in Britain, it'll probably be a bowl of your daily sugar allowance.

And in Germany, a court has ruled exactly what you should expect for the first meal of the day.

According to The Local, judges in the western city of Münster laid down the law over what constitutes a German breakfast after a tax dispute with a local software company. The company provided free dry bread rolls and coffee to its employees and guests, which was deemed by the local tax office as a "free provision of a meal to the employee in the form of a breakfast." They were ordered to pay backdated tax payments of up to €1.57 per employee from December 2008 to December 2011.

But the state government has rejected the local finance office's demand for taxes on the basis that bread and coffee is nicht Frühstück.

Published yesterday, the judges' ruling states that in order for the company's offering to be classed as breakfast, it must also include spreads, cold meats, and cheeses. German news website Spiegel Online reports that the company is no longer liable to pay the taxes for now but the local tax office is allowed to appeal the decision.

No word yet on whether the local office will challenge this decision—or break bread with the company.