When is lunch

I still call a meal at 5pm or so "teatime", because also being from a working class Manchester family, we didn't eat as late as we do now, so there was no need to differentiate tea vs evening dinner — Matt Fletcher. Show 4 more comments. Mitch Mitch The early risers would eat breakfast than join the later risers for brunch. Interesting statement about Sunday main meals However a similarly prepared Christmas Day meal eaten at the same time mid-afternoo would never be "Christmas Lunch".

This would be "Christmas Dinner". I must temper my observation with one caveat: we must not forget that culture, socioeconomic status, class-stratification and geography impact on how the debate is perceived in Britain.

The Brits remain wedded to a perplexing lexicon of meal-time terminology. The byzantine nature of all this provides us with even more food for thought by Somerset Maugham's dictum: "To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day.

Up before dawn to milk the cow, while food was prepared so that "breakfast" came around dawn and was typically a solid, hot meal. Then into the fields to work until "lunch" a small meal usually sandwiches or cold leftovers was delivered in the late morning say or Back to work until mid afternoon or pm when they'd return to the house for a small hot meal called "dinner".

Milk the cows, chop wood, carry water, fix things, and other work near the house until "supper" , a large hot meal was served sometime after dark. An excellent schedule to emulate, without all that work in between. The day schedule heavily depends on the culture and profession you look at. I grew up on a small farm in Austria.

My parents - lifetime farmers - lived on a similar schedule. Depending on workload or time of year you can reach five times to eat breakfast before you start work; a small cold snack between breakfast and noon; the main meal at noon; sometimes a snack, often with coffee in the mid of afternoon; and finally something to eat after your days labour. Also in German there are lots of names for all those meals. It strongly depends on your milieu.

I adopted this eating schedule in college. Sometimes I also supplemented it with a midnight Taco Bell or Walmart run I have a really high metabolism. Yes, let us not forget a "midnight feast". It's something of a misnomer since whatever was eaten very late at night or after midnight was never feast-like in quantity or quality. Farmers in the s north of Lisbon followed a pattern similar to that described by DohnJoe : breakfast called the 'bug-killer' before leaving to the fieds, hot meals on the field usually delivered by a kid later in the morning and early in the afternoon, cold snack later, and another hot meal in the evening.

Wine they would have all day round. But by the s the mid-morning hot meal had been replaced by a snack or eliminated altogether, and the early afternoon hot meal moved to noon. In India, supper is rarely if ever used. Lunch — refers to the afternoon meal somewhere between noon to 2 pm Tea — refers to tea and snacks around evening time 4pm - 6pm Dinner — refers to a meal at night after evening, 7pm to 10 pm.

Brunch is also increasingly used for a lazy combination of Breakfast and Lunch! Mayank Mayank 1 1 silver badge 3 3 bronze badges. It was brought back to Britain by the returning ruling elite but never really a found a place for itself in the mother country or its vernacular. John John 3 3 gold badges 9 9 silver badges 18 18 bronze badges.

Marie Hammons Marie Hammons 1 1 silver badge 2 2 bronze badges. What did you have for breakfast? Born in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, raised in a traditional British household. Breakfast — Morning meal breaking the overnight fast. Lunch — Midday meal. Afternoon Tea — 4 o'clock tea and biscuit. Supper — Small informal meal taken before bed usually in a kitchen type setting.

Jason Jason 81 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge. P Fulbright P Fulbright 61 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge. The "supper" would have commenced at sunset and featured unleavened bread matzo and a number of symbolic food items and wine used and eaten at this annual religious gathering. Asiegbu charles Asiegbu charles 61 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge.

Robyn Williams Robyn Williams 51 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge. Z B Z B 61 1 1 silver badge 2 2 bronze badges. Kyle James Kyle James 31 1 1 bronze badge. Thanks for your contribution. No, I don't think you can properly say one enjoyed a turkey dinner for supper. You could say one enjoyed a turkey meal for supper , but, as the other answers say, the use of 'dinner' is indicating that it's the main meal of the day, and 'supper' is indicating a lighter meal.

You can't properly mix them. TrevorD: It's fine that you don't think they can be mixed; but you don't really explain anything. You just state that you agree with other answers. The whole point of Kyle's answer is to say that there is an orthogonal meaning which hadn't been brought up in other answers.

You absolutely can say "I had a TV dinner for supper", for example, and it's perfectly proper. People do in fact mix them, whether that's "proper" or not. Even to the extent that you'll sometimes hear something like "we're having sandwiches for dinner, and dinner for tea", so that using "dinner" to describe the meal and the mealtime occurs in the same sentence.

That would happen among people who mainly call the midday meal "dinner" and the evening meal "tea", but are also influenced by the "main meal is called dinner" usage. Both my parents moved south within England during childhoods, so my family's vocabulary is scattershot, but it's not just them I've heard this sort of thing from.

For more inspiration, take a look at some of these healthy, low calorie dinner recipes. Mellow-spiced chicken and chickpeas : cals. Peppers with spicy turkey stuffing : cals.

Split pea and vegetable curry : cals. Stick to calories for breakfast, for lunch and for dinner. You also have an extra for any milk in tea and coffee and any fruit throughout the day.

You can pick two of any of these snacks under calories , from jaffa cakes and a glass of wine, to yogurt and pretzels! Skipping it just makes you hungrier and more likely to over-indulge in later meals — causing a surge in blood sugar.

Nutritional Therapist for Bio-Kult , Natalie Lamb, also suggests that eating at regular times of the day can also help with effective digestion and removal of waste, all important for the good health of your gut.

She suggests that cutting down on our intake of sugary food can ward off unwanted bacteria and yeast. Follow these tips to help fit everything in:. Whatever schedule you come up with, be sure to emphasize whole foods and wholesome ingredients. Topics: Food. Gift Cards Go to X. Tips for Maintaining an Optimal Eating Schedule Balancing work or school, exercise and proper eating can be challenging. Follow these tips to help fit everything in: Plan ahead: Do as much meal prep in advance as possible so you can have your meals ready at optimal times.

For instance, whip up a batch of chili and bake chicken on the weekends for easy weeknight reheats. Experiment: Try changing your eating times slightly each day, and when you hit the optimal mix, add in exercise to see how it impacts you. While you may have exercised at night your whole life, your body may respond better to mornings now that you eat differently. You may not redistribute, sell or place the content of this page on any other website or blog without written permission from the Mandy Barrow.

Mandy is the creator of the Woodlands Resources section of the Woodlands Junior website. The two websites projectbritain. She now teaches computers at The Granville School and St. John's Primary School in Sevenoaks Kent. Woodlands Junior Homework Help new website. Follow Mandy on Twitter. Woodlands Homework Help new website. Cookie Policy. What's happening this month? Project Britain. National Foods of Scotland and Wales. School Lunches.