The Fascinating History of Dinner Time

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Dr. Mercola
April 23 2007

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The Fascinating History of Dinner Time

This interesting article from History Magazine explores the evolution of meals from medieval to modern times.

No doubt you'll appreciate how wealth, in addition to the evolution of "modern technology," set the stage for people nowadays eating, for the most part, whenever and however they can spare the time, spurring the epidemic of obesity.

For the longest time, dinner was the primary and biggest meal, eaten in the middle of the day (anytime between noon at 1 p.m.) by working class folks and the wealthy, because artificial lighting was expensive and weak at best, forcing people to head to bed at sundown. Conversely, breakfasts were small affairs as were late-day suppers.

Wealth and technology, along with more peaceful times, emboldened people during the 1700s to expand their days into the night for business, parties, and various entertainments. The wealthy (who spent less time in governmental affairs and more on leisure) tended to sleep in more often, pushing that primary dinner time to as late as 6 p.m., with supper coming as late as 2 a.m.

As for the middle-class, the demands of work and longer commutes (does this sound familiar?) pushed dinner to the evening hours and created snacking times just to satisfy the hunger brought on by extended intervals between meals.

History Magazine

Related Articles:

The Family Dinner Table: A Source of Strength, Good Mental Health

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Children Eat Healthier If They Sit Down To Dinner

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Community Comments (27)

Posted On Apr 23, 2007

Mediterranean habits, of the largest meal, being mid day, along with a nice siesta or rest period (Italy, Spain, Greece, etc.) are also going by the way side in the EU. European optimum health is also declining, as a result of more and more process food and beverage consumption, lack of exercise, and developing bad American health habits in both production and intake.

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Russ Bianchi

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cheftodd

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Posted On Apr 23, 2007

This is crazy. the food over there is so good. when they sit down to eat it is about having fun, laughing, family, and good for you food. this pre- packaged junk drives me crazy. your meal should be enjoyed, the smells, and taste should bring a smile to your face. And your taste buds should sing. instead it feels like maybe you need to take a scraper to your toungue to get all the goop off!

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Bill McDougald

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Posted On May 23, 2007

I would like to add Lebanon to this list of people who have their main meal at noon. I heard about the 100 year old medical doctor, still practising at 100, who tested our hydrochloric acid in our stomachs and found it starts to decline at 1:00 pm and is almost zero at 3:00 pm. He suggests to eat a whole food breakfast and lunch and you won't be hungry in the evening. You can digest vegetables and fruit after 3:00 pm. I have been doing this for 2 years very well. If you are doing nothing but watching TV you'll perhaps notice that you aren't full. You can eat dates or other dried fruits so you won't have to get up in the night to go to the bathroom. He also found that you cannot digest starches and proteins together. You cannot digest fruit with anything else. Hencs all of our deserts are toast so to speak.

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Posted On Apr 23, 2007

I think the EU is getting it right with some countries having a siesta or bigger break in the middle of the day for food. I also think France is leading the way, unfortunately, with a 35 hour work week instead of 40, and there is a mandatory 25 to 30-days paid vacation during the first year of employment? (Someone please let me know if this is true or not). Too much capitalism in America to work any less to keep up with the Jones' of the country. They also have better transportation to avoid the long, stressful commutes. Italians spend a lot of time at meals with friends and family, not unusual to have a 2-3 hour dinner. My house is lucky to have more than 30 minutes before we have finished and moved on, no patience anymore I guess. So maybe its has to do more with whom you eat with as much as for how long or with family?
I will stop right there though, its not all that great over the pond, or there would be more flocking from the US. But when it comes to health, they definitely have the edge on the US, in my opinion. Maybe its because they are more closely related to the old, Medieval ways.
The EU is most definitely worried about obesity invading them as well, they want to stop it now before it reaches over 20% of the population. Wish we were that concerned back when it was 20% in the US.

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proatc

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katieannpc

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Posted On May 10, 2007

Protac - thank you for this post! I am absolutely certain that the American peope could be more productive at work if we had more time to take care of ourselves. Unfortunately I think there are many Americans who would abuse that. At the same time, I think work attendence would be higher along with the increased productivity. My husband has a new job, and they get 5 holidays, and after 1yr, he gets a week vacation --- He's a Mechanical Engineer with over 15yrs experience! Granted, this company is very small, however I think more time off would certainly help the "guys" be more productive all around. We don't even care about the "keeping up with the Jones'" - just want to make enough to have a little land and let me stay home with our kids.

We have thought -- if the US keeps going down like it has been, we have been wondering - which country to go to??? Ireland? My husband's granparents (mom's side) came from there, or Germany - the other set of grandparents came from there (I think his dad was actually born in Germany) Since we really don't know anything about the governments or lifestyles there, it's a scary thought - and we are not well travelled either. We do hope to at least visit Ireland - his mom thinks her grandma's house is still there :-) That would be really cool to go there! Then my family is from England - how many generations ago I have no clue (I bet my dad does though...) I don't think we want to live there - just visit. I guess I have to learn to be a traveller. I don't want just the 10 cent tourist bit, I want to see the nuts and bolts of life there -- as long as I don't have to eat gross food LOL....

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Darren Turner

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Posted On May 11, 2007

Hi, the annual holiday entitlement in the EU is at least 25-30 days plus public holidays which range from 8 in the UK to 15 in Germany. In our modern world with all the technology we have why do we keep working for so many hours? How much of what you actually do at work is really necessary? Furthermore with computers, the internet, and web conferencing why the need to drive to the office everyday? The idea of all this progress must be surely to create more time for us to spend doing what we actually want to do rather than what we previously needed to do to survive? In addition to the civilised holidays the French are desperately trying to preserve their small farmers and hence quality local food supply against the massive only world super power economic pressure coming from the US in the world trade talks, who want to wipe out small farmers by getting rid of their government subsidies in the EU and let the rich and powerful agro-conglomerates rule the world and screw up all our health in the process. You guys in the land of the free need to double and triple your efforts to reign in the political clout of these big agro and big pharma corporate collossuses. Keep up the good work all Mercola subscribers.

Cheers

Darren Turner, England

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mountaingb

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Posted On May 11, 2007

While I lived In Italy, an Italian told me that they work to live and we Americans live to work. The Italians went to work later in the morning, had the siesta for a few hours and went back to work perhaps until 6:30 or 7:30 pm. I remember that it was difficult to find a business open at night-families were at home with each other in the evening. The small businesses (even the restaurants) were closed 2 days a week, which included Sundays. In the larger cities, there were a few businesses open later and longer-even 24 hours. Yikes!

I liked living in a place where the work ethics ethics and lifestyles were at a slower pace than they are here in the States...sigh. I am sad to hear that that is disappearing from the EU.

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Posted On Apr 23, 2007

Do yourselves all a favor and read Dr. Mercolas article, my seven practical recommendations

I must quote from this:

Among families who do eat together regularly:

They tend to spend more time reading for pleasure and on homework

They experience less tension among family members

Children are more likely to feel their parents are proud of them

Children are 40 percent more likely to get mainly A's and B's in school

People need to take this to heart!

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The Herb Doc

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Ber

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Posted On May 10, 2007

As the mother of six I can attest to the truth in these facts. We have common sibling rivalry, yes they bicker at times but are very very close. My 28 year old calls home at least 3 times a week if not more.  The children range from 28 the oldest to the youngest at 6.

We had a foreign exchange student from France a few years back and she was shocked at our eating habits. She explained that noon was the big meal and she was given long lunch breaks to go home or out with friends. She was from Souther France.

This got me thinking and we shifted also. We have a small morning meal, milk and bread, boiled eggs and cucumbers, cheese and a pita. A larger noon meal unfortunately my husband cannot be there often but sometimes we meet at park close to him weather depending. Then at dinner we sit down again for a medium evening meal before sunset. Usually not a meat containing meal.  We are all together for two of the meals typically.

The key is the atmosphere of the table and the people sitting there. If you sit with enemies you are going to get indigestion with friends you get nourished both body and soul.

Ber

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Posted On Apr 23, 2007

This isnt relevant but someone please answer me this-

-are rolled oats wholemeal? I think they might remove the bran so maybe they arent and if not what are wholemeal oats called?

-are oats really good for your digestion (or at least better than most grains), i have some digestive problems and I find that my body tolerates oats much better than other wholegrain foods.

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sucram

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cheftodd

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Posted On Apr 23, 2007

sucram, I am not sure about that. but you can get oat bran. I have heard of steel-cut oats,and oat groats. oat groats have the outer hull removed. You can look it up on line(try the cooks thesaurus.)hope this helps a little.

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BUNDY

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Posted On Apr 27, 2007

Rolled oats have simply been rolled through a mill in order to break, really smash, the individual kernels.

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Amanda Rose

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Posted On May 10, 2007

sucram -- Rolled oats are whole, but one issue with oats is that it is difficult to break down the phytic acid. The phytic acid will inhibit your absorption of minerals. If you don't have a mineral problem, it's not a big deal. But if you are low in zinc or iron in particular, oats are low in the enzyme necessary to break it down.

In some grains, you can soak in a warm acid medium for a few hours and the phytic acid will be removed. For oats, consider adding a high phytase grain to the oats and then soaking if you want to reduce the phytic acid.

Amanda

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samurai

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Posted On May 10, 2007

Steel Cut oats are a bit pricey, and takes a while to prepare, but a delicious and very healthful oat. The Irish call it porridge.
You may find it at Whole Foods in a steel can for about $8.00

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Posted On Apr 23, 2007

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sucram

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