Dinner.
What is it?
Are dinner and supper the same thing?
We can all agree on lunch. And breakfast.
One falls right around noon and consists of chicken salad on white bread.
And the other meal comes along first thing of the day, sunny side up with some bacon and toast.
But why do some people call the evening meal supper, and some call it dinner?
By definition from Webster:
supper — an evening meal, typically a light or informal one
dinner — the main meal of the day, taken either around midday or in the evening
Ah, and there it is.
But the definition of “dinner” begs the question:
Was this always the definition of dinner, or did Webster amend the definition to appease the people who eat “dinner” when they should be eating “lunch?”
I’m grinning right now because I’m playing the Devil’s Advocate.
It really doesn’t matter what you call them. Most Americans accept that there are three meal times in a day. Morning, noon, and evening. Call them Feed Bag One, Two, and Three. It doesn’t matter.
But it seems we have varying ideas on when these meals should be eaten. The time.
Dinner is the one with the most variation. All across our great land.
Recently a survey was done to show when Americans eat dinner.
By results of the poll:
People start eating dinner as early as 5:07 pm.
The peak time of the dinner eating comes at 6:19 pm.
And the latest people start eating dinner is 8:19 pm.
In Ohio, our “peak” dinner time is 6:28 pm.
Any guesses as to who the earliest states might be?
Pennsylvania at 5:37.
Next, Maine at 5:40.
The latest states are:
Texas at 7:02.
District of Columbia at 7:10.
Some of these states have a wide range, indeed.
It seems the higher the populations, the wider the ranges, in general.
I’ve provided the graph below.
These days, our dinner time here is varied and most of the time, freelance, due to wonky schedules.
When I was a kid, it seemed like we always ate at 5:30. Which meant my dad must have left Frigidaire each day at 5 o’clock on the spot and beamed himself home and into the chair at the head of the kitchen table.
I’m truly wondering if most Americans have a “set” dinner time these days.
Do you?
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“A party without cake is just a meeting.”
– Julia Child
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“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”
– James Beard
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“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”
– Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
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