I must admit to being somewhat confused (though none of my friends will find that odd!) – about the various meals we enjoy each day.
The easy one is our first meal of the day – Breakfast. First seen in our language back in the mid 15th century, it is quite self-explanatory. It refers to the breaking of our fast over the previous night.
But then the waters become somewhat muddied! What is the correct terminology for meals eaten during the rest of a standard day? Whilst I was brought up to understand that the middle meal of the day is Lunch, I know people who are adamant that this meal should be referred to as Dinner. Then add to that – the concepts of Tea and Supper! After a few hours “down the rabbit-hole“ of my research, it became obvious that there is no real clear answer to my question.
It seems to boil down (pun intended!) to a sort of combination of what you eat at each meal and your cultural background. There is also evidence that these terms all have agricultural roots.
Generally, Dinner is considered to be the main meal of the day eaten at night and Lunch, refers to a meal which is consumed during the afternoon. Lunch, however, isn’t considered a main/compulsory meal of the day and is therefore consumed in a light way – food that is not heavy for the stomach, hence not as important as ‘dinner’.
The concept of eating three square meals a day is relatively recent. Throughout Roman times, through to the Middle Ages and Renaissance time, folk missed breakfast and had one large meal around the middle of the day. This meal became known as dinner (from the old French word “disner” meaning to dine or break a fast). The mid-day timing of the meal made sense as we needed daylight to cook – and by then land labourers were hungry after working since sunrise.
However, the Industrial Revolution changed all that, particularly in the south. People were working further away from home and therefore did not have the chance to return home to eat until later in the day. In addition, as the wealthier classes now had access to artificial lighting, they started pushing their dinner times back. Queen Victoria took hers at 8 o’clock in the evening. This now extended time between the morning and the evening meal, necessitated an additional meal to sustain you during the day – resulting in lunch or luncheon.
In 2018 YouGov ran a poll among more than 42,000 English people which revealed that the majority (57%) use the term Dinner, 36% use Tea and 5% use Supper.
The latter – “Tea” and “Supper” raise a whole additional level to the meanings of our meal times – High Tea, Low Tea, Afternoon Tea, Cream Tea etc. etc.
However, all this talk of food has made me somewhat peckish – so I’m off to find a snack right now.
More about Tea will follow next month!!
Take care and stay safe!
