A question about European late dinners

We eat at 7.30. It used to be 8 but we thought that was starting to get a bit late . Our closest friends, with whom we often eat, like theirs about 6.30 so it's always a rush to get a meal prepared for the earlier time & to make sure DH is in & ready to eat. He's is always busy doing something & goes out again after dinner in the summer to mow the grass or something! We like travelling to Italy when we can so of course 8 is seen as really early - 10 is around the time most eat, including children.

Teacher Anne I'm the same, no set time eat as and when or sometimes not at all.

I eat later, maybe about 8 to 9pm but when I'm in Spain we eat a late meal, sometimes about 10 to 11pm (including the children) that's something you have to get used to, you can't expect, as guests, that your family will change their eating times, that would be unreasonable. Eating late is a social thing, and is an enjoyable part of family life.

Several European countries, where the climate is much warmer, have a siesta in the afternoons, hence they eat/socialise later into the evening.
Now semi retired I have started having my main meal at lunch time and just soup in the evening and all finished by 6. This has led to my losing a stone (so far) so I shall keep going with it.
On the rare occasions we go out I just go with the flow and choose lighter options.
And I was 14 and a half stone so I did need to lose!

We eat around 6pm, always have done even when working, as we enjoyed an evening meal with DSs. Eldest son and wife eat at 8pm having fed children at 5, even at weekends. We don’t sleep very well on those nights. Not sure what they do now kids approaching adulthood. In Seville we saw whole families going out to eat at 11pm.

In Denmark a lot of families eat at either 6 p.m. or 7, depending on when they get home from work and on the age of the children.

Office staff rarely can leave work before 5 p.m. or 5.30 at the earliest, shop staff work shifts so there is no general rule for when they will get home from work, and the same applies to hospital staff and care home staff.

A lot of people have an hour or an hour and a half's travelling time between their place of work and their home.

It is thus always wise to check if you are invited to dinner when the family actually eats.

As a general rule, you can expect families with young children to eat as soon as possible after coming home from work in order to get the children bathed and to bed at a reasonable hour.

Families with school-children may not actually eat together on week days, as one or more child or adult may be going to sports, scouts, visiting friends etc. after school or work.

If only one adult in the family works full-time the other may do all the shopping and cooking - if they work shifts you may well find that the person who gets off work earliest shops and collects children from day-care or school, ferries children to and from after-school activities and the other does the cooking.

Again there are no longer general rules or set times for meals, although Danish restaurants usually do not serve food after 9 or 10 p.m. so obviously people are used to eating their evening meal somewhere between 6 p.m. and 9.

I am 70, and not since my childhood has there been set times for meals in cities and a different set of times in country areas, where the farming community continued eating their main meal at midday or one o' clock, a practice that is still maintained by hospitals and care homes due to staffing, as evening staff are paid at a higher rate than daytime staff.

In Spain where in my experience the evening meal is often eaten around nine in the evening, people tend to eat a light snack on their way home from work.

We always eat dinner at around 6pm at home or 7pm if in a restaurant in U.K. . My husband has terrible digestive problems if he eats very late. My sister used to live in Egypt and always kept mealtimes to European times 6 or 6-30pm as she had children. They didn’t like going to friends or colleagues for dinner because it could be 9 or 10pm eating which was far too late for them. She could never arrange for early morning yoga class or beautician appointments with her Egyptian good friend because she was always in bed until 11am due to the very late eating & conversation the night before.

About eating on a full stomach: I think it is a matter of what you where brought up to believe, or have been in the habit of doing.

Here most people think it is decidedly unhealthy to go to bed without having eating a fair sized evening meal, and those of us who eat late, as DH and I do would not be able to sleep well unless we had eaten an hour or so before bedtime

Our evening meal is our main meal of the day and taken between 7.00 and 8.00 pm.

Many people in the UK have a long commute and would arrange for their children to have an earlier meal with the adults eating after the children were in bed. Not ideal but often necessary in the economic climate.

In mainland Europe, it varies depending upon country and climate. In France, restaurants often close even earlier than they do in the UK, often by 9.30pm and a last order just before then would not go down well in many cities.

Spain, as has been mentioned by others, seems to have a completely different protocol with whole families eating very late (by our standards) any time from 9.30 on onwards. There is still a siesta component in Spain which allows for later evenings.

By contrast we were surprised at our first trip to the States when we saw families eating out at 5.00 pm. I think the thing to remember is that their working day begins an hour or so earlier than in the UK so the total timing of meals is overall similar.

My parents liked to eat by six and hated eating out ,because it would be too late . My mother would say that she was going to faint .

Foreign foods were disliked as well .

Then ,by 8.30 pm cheese and biscuits were always served as a nighttime snack.

If unable to sleep warm milk with brandy with biscuits would be taken .

Breakfast at seven .
Elevenses at ten .This would be coffee made with milk and a huge Danish pastry.
Lunch between noon and one (one being too late )
Afternoon tea of scones and cakes at four ...

A day of constant inflexible grazing ,which made going out and holidays really difficult .

I also felt acutely embarrassed in front of my in laws .

As others have pointed out, the Europeans often have longer lunch breaks than us ( at least 2 hours) and eat more leisurely which actually makes you feel full for longer. They eat about 8pm with the children too. In my experience (friends in Spain and France) they cook from scratch and serve their meals with salads and breads etc. So it takes longer to prepare than a lot of British family’s meals do, which could be one reason that they eat later and also they wait until it’s cooler too.

We rarely ate before 8pm as OH worked long hours. The habit still stays even in retirement. It's not supposed to be good for you, but we have survived, healthily, thus far.

Somewhere between 7 and 9 for us here in Wales. Likewise if in Europe or anywhere else or eating out - typical dinner reservation would be for 7.30 .

Same here ..... it’s great just to go with the flow.

Sorry ..... this was a reply to teacherannie.

I finish work at 5, but by the time I have negotiated my commute of three trains I am not home until 7. I eat dinner at about 8. By the time the kitchen is cleared I am thinking about bed and the next day!

Mummer

Fasting for 2days?!?! How have you fallen for such rubbish!?

Well the ‘rubbish’ I’ve fallen for is under medical supervision and I’ve lost 11lb in just under three weeks. For anyone interested you choose your fast days a few days apart and on those days just take fluids - unsweetened tea, coffee and clear liquids. The other five days, stick to about 1200 calories and try not to eat after about 6-7pm. I’m advised not to do it for more than 12 weeks without a break, but I can tell you that it does seem to work.

My family are working class Scottish. As a child we had dinner in the middle of the day. Our father came home from the shipyard and we came home from school to a plate of soup then meat potatoes and two veg. Goodness knows how we didn’t fall asleep in the afternoon. When dad came home from work in the evening about 5:30 we had to come in to get cleaned up for tea which was something like a chop, peas and chips followed by desert like apple crumble or rice pudding. That would be about 6ish.

When I was married lunch was around 1:00 and dinner around 6:30. The children had a snack on coming home from school e.g. toasted cheese and fruit to last them until dinner time.

Nowadays dinner is around 1:00 with tea around six. Tea these days is something light such as hummus or avocado on toast, or a plate of soup or salad.

Interesting looking back at the changes. We couldn’t manage a big meal in the evenings now. If we are invited to a restaurant in the evening I order just a starter but OH orders a dinner then complains heartburn keeps him up all night. ?

Mummer

Fasting for 2days?!?! How have you fallen for such rubbish!?

The 5:2 diet is extremely popular and most importantly it works Mummer.

Well done Pammie1 you must be proud of your achievement.

I've seen Spanish people sit down for dinner at 10pm and I think it's a tradition to eat late to avoid the heat of the day. Living in the UK we both eat about 8pm.

I didn't finish work until ,6 or 8 pm so after travelling , late dinner or supper was always late. Hubby on the other hand is an early worker finishing before 4. His mum always had "tea" on the table by 5. I think it's probably what you were brought up with and work constrictions. Now he has what I would call a high tea and a meal later in the evening. Since I went on medication i hate the smell of cooking and rarely feel hungry, so food becomes a sore subject. I hate the sound of the front door and within five minutes"what's for tea?"

Mealtimes used to be a nightmare in our house. DH worked Continental shifts. 6am - 2pm, 2pm - 10pm or 10pm - 6am. He also did 12 hour shifts on alternate weekends. Also, in addition to my own children I fostered babies and toddlers. Talk about Moveable Feasts!
Now I live alone, and eat what and when I feel like. It's almost 6pm today, and I have had several coffees and a bowl of cornflakes so far. Been busy, and I'm just beginning to feel hungry.
I miss having the family around, but not the endless catering.

We also eat our main meal at 1.30 to 2.00pm, and have a light supper (perhaps a sandwich or soup) at around 6.30pm.
As we are both retired, this is not a problem. When working, I used to make the main meal as soon as I got in from work. My husband would be home by the time the meal was ready.

We live in Sweden and personally we eat at 5pm an unwritten rule ( my husbands ) most people here eat the evening meal about 6pm. Europe in general eat later

Where I live they think we are odd, dinner is 12 pm on the dot tea is 4.30/5 pm and supper about 9 p.m.
We eat dinner at 6.30 as like another posters Dh I would be on the Gaviscon all night.If we go out we get between 7 and 8 if we can.