Houston, Texas (NAPSI) - People with a taste for travel—Including the armchair variety—may be glad to know about travel guides featuring such fascinating food facts as:

• Small plates with big taste inSpain: Tapas are small snacks that originated from a bartender’s practice of covering a glass with a saucer or tapa (cover). InSpain, it’s customary to move from bar to bar, sampling the specialties of each. Tapas are usually eaten standing.

• Enjoy a morning feast inIreland: Traditionally, the Irish start the day with a huge breakfast: bacon, sausages, black pudding, eggs, tomatoes and brown bread. InNorthern Ireland, add potato cakes and soda farls for an “Ulster Fry.”

• Take your time inItaly: Lunch is generally between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. and, particularly in the south, all other activity stops between these hours. Dinner is at about 7:30 p.m. and goes on until 11 p.m. or later.

• Beer for breakfast inGermany: The Bavarians’ hearty, no-nonsense dishes are what the world considers German cuisine. Weisswurst (white sausages with a beer pretzel) are enjoyed in the morning, often with a beer, while dinner might be soup with liver dumplings, roast pork, sauerkraut and a pile of potato dumplings.

• Take your pick inLondon: Borough Market’s busy stalls of regional and continental food are a microcosm of what Londoners eat. There are English and Irish cheeses, Scottish beef, Welsh lamb, Devon cider,Suffolkoysters and more.

These tasty tips come from DK Eyewitness Travel Guides, the genuine “all-in-one” guides for detailed information on food, sights, history, entertainment, shopping, transportation, maps, hotels and restaurants. Known for rich illustrations, custom-drawn cutaways, floor plans and reconstructions of major buildings and museums, they’re available where books are sold.