Lunch, Dinner, Tea, Supper?

Aveline

See previous thread on this topic

Sorry, but not too recently I trust?

Wouldn’t have known which forum to check under, as I do try and not repeat posts.

Fleurpepper

Fleurpepper

So regional too.

Never heard of 'tea' as a meal when I lived in London or Surrey.

Discovered it when I moved to the Potteries and other parts of the Midlands.

I lived in London from 1946-1969. Everyone used the word tea for a meal. It was the same in Kent and Essex.

We did eat a lot more then pascal30 I agree. Brought up in Yorkshire I had a cooked breakfast, dinner the main meal at midday, another full meal at teatime with ham or pork pie around 5 -6pm. Supper was a hot drink with biscuits or toast
Of course we were a lot more active then walking or cycling everywhere.

I say breakfast, lunch and dinner, however, dinner sounds a bit too grand for the type of meal I have on a tray while watching TV.

I have always hated the word supper, in the same way, that some people do not like the word moist, I don't know why but it really makes me shudder.

* Breakfast, self explanatory.

* Lunch - middle of the day meal.

* Tea - 4pm ish. Children often have tea instead of dinner. Although DGS insists on calling his tea-time meal dinner.

* Dinner - evening.

* Supper (don't often eat it) - late. 9pm on. Snacky.

Yes, same in our family Gaga.

As said, never hear 'tea' as meal in London, but that was (several locations) in SW, and Surrey, rather than East London. So regional even within regions.

Dinner became lunch when people stopped eating the main meal of the day at midday and substituted a ligher meal at that time, and continued to call the main meal they now ate in the evening dinner.

In my childhood (1950s) the elder generation still ate their main meal in the middle of the day, as did the farming community.

I imagine the change came about as people started living farther away from their place of work and it was no longer feasible to go home to eat half-way through the working day.

I don't think you can pin-point an era for the change as it depended on social factors as much as anything else.

As early as the Victorian era, high society ate dinner at night, especially during the "London season" and lunch, or luncheon in the middle of the day.

My family ate three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We never adopted the common Scottish practice of high tea in the evening.

Supper was regarded as a purely English phenomenon - probably brought about because an English tea was what in Scotland, if it was taken, was called afternoon tea - a matter of tea, cake, scones or biscuits - not a meal. Afternoon tea disapeared when it became usual for married women to go out to work, so they were not likely to be visiting friends or visited by them in the afternoon.

If we said we were hungry at bedtime we were either told that was our own fault for not having eaten up at dinner, or told, as we were in the afternoon if we were hungry, that we might take a piece of bread. This was meant quite literally - a piece of bread eaten in you hand, and you were very lucky if you were allowed to spread anything on it!

Remember 'My Little Sister ' Books- my kids loved the 'plain first, jam second and cake if you are (very) lucky'.

Breakfast, lunch and the evening meal is supper unless it’s a special occasion.
Last night we had friend for a 3 course “dinner”, had I done a Lasagne and we’d sat at the kitchen table and not in the dining room then I would have invited them for “supper”.

I agree with GagaJo.

Children have 'tea' when they get home from school, and dinner at lunch time. If they are up late enough to get hungry again before bed, they might have cereal or something light before bed.

Adults have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Lunch is a very light meal in this house - sandwich, soup etc, which may or may not be eaten at the table, and may or may not be eaten together. IT might be leftovers from yesterday's dinner. Dinner is the main meal, usually eaten at the table with whoever is in the house. It used to be eaten at about 7.00, but has got earlier since Mr Dog became diabetic and needs to eat regularly. Now it's usually about 6.00. Supper is just a snack if we have it. It's not eaten at the table, and might just be a biscuit or could (rarely) be something like cheese on toast. More usually it's nothing.

Breakfast is as soon as we get inside from first dog walk, porridge, coffee, toast, fruit. Lunch is sometime between 12 and 2, after long dog walk, soup, salad, sandwich, or curry. Tea/ Dinner is at 7-8 after dog walk, a full meal, sides, breads, salad, dessert. Late nibble at 11-12, some warm drink (winter), cold drink (summer), biscuits, after last dog walk, before shower, bed.

Breakfast, lunch and supper for us. Supper is called dinner if we're eating out. We prefer to eat it at about 7.30. nothing after that.
Tea is just that - a cup of tea with or without biscuits.

aggie

What we called supper was a cup of milky drink and a few biscuits or a slice of toast
Anyone remember “ night starvation “ ? P

Was it Horlicks that was supposed to stop "Night time Starvation?' I seem to remember my mother buying a large jar and neither my father nor myself liked malt we wanted the cocoa back so she got it all for herself.

I only eat twice a day now. First would be brunch around 1100 and second is around 1630 which makes tea seem the most appropriate tag. My concept of breakfast is around 0800 and dinner would be 2000. I guess time brackets are formed in childhood.

We have breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. DH and I don't bother with tea, but call our evening meal supper.
Today's dinner (at 1pm) was oven baked breaded fish with potato wedges and baked beans.
I have no idea what supper will be.

Breakfast was cereal or toast our dinner was simply tinned soup or an egg or beans and a biscuit at home. We only stayed school dinners when the car factory was on strike as we got dinner tickets. It was a treat for us having a dinner and a pudding every day. Sunday dinner was a roast we had a homemade fruit crumble or pie with our Sunday dinner.
Tea here was meals like Scouse or mince and mash etc what ever mum made. Sunday tea was salad sandwiches cakes jelly etc.

That is true Doodledog. DGS frequently has supper before he goes to bed. He has to have a hearty tea at tea-time as soon as he gets home from school because he's frequently refused to eat his school lunch (dinner).

Dinner, nowadays, represents the main meal of the day, isn’t it?

Tea is a cup of tea. We had unexpected visitors today so it was tea and biscuits.

High tea was more substantial, salads, fruit and evaporated milk and cake.
Afternoon tea is posh sandwiches and little fancy cakes with a pot of tea.
A Cornish cream tea is homemade scones, homemade jam and clotted cream, with a pot of tea, preferably in Cornwall. Devon cream tea ditto.

Supper was hot chocolate, Horlicks and a couple of biscuits to avoid Night time Starvation or, as my father used to say, just to settle you off to sleep 🙂.

It used to be breakfast, dinner and high tea when I was young.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner now.

My main meal is always dinner but a friend from the south calls it supper. Supper to me when I was young was tea and toast so I was confused when she asked me to supper.
Luckily she mentioned she was making so spaghetti bolognese.

Supper sounds rather upper-class to me unless it's cocoa and a bikkie!

I would need several hearty meals after all that dog walking Nora don't tell my dogs about it. They have three walks but two of them are only 30 mins or so.

I worked for an awfully posh solicitor and he called his 'tea' 'supper' which his family ate at 8 p.m. and it was quite a substantial meal. I had not come across it before. My family called it dinner and we ate ate 6 p.m.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Ps a cream tea, any time please.