Dinner Chief Meal In Evenings At Homes Restaurants

Dinner is the main meal of the day, eaten at noon or in the evening although we dont have specific names and times for our meals. Some of us have dinner at eight, while others have supper at five. The term has originated from the French word diner, which means chief repast of the day. It comprises of a combination of cooked meat or fish with vegetables, and/or starch products like rice, noodles, or potatoes.

The term Dinner has had different connotations in different customs and for different classes of people. In England, for example, during the Victorian era, the ostentatious nobles had formal dinners around noon for which preparations began early morning while the lesser nobles, knights and manor holders ate a far less formal dinner, but at the same time of day. As opposed to this the middle class merchants who were bounded with work had dinner a little late and the peasants - the most oppressed class - broke for the day not before evening.

Dinner being taken during the earlier part of the day can be explained by the fact that in those times artificial lighting was expensive and inefficient. Thus, it was difficult to work or eat in the dark so the major meal was taken during the daytime and it was referred to as dinner while the last meal of the day was a simple affair. Today the evening meal is more commonly referred to as the Supper.

Dinner in case of Australians, Americans and Canadians is a meal around 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. There might be some variations, for example, if dinner is at noon, the evening repast is called Supper and if it is in the evening the noon repast is called Lunch. In Australia, however, tea and dinner are synonyms. In Arabic culture, Arabia being a hot place dinner is eaten quite late between 9:00 p.m. and midnight. It is usually a light meal, lunch being the main meal of the day.

Dinner can also be defined differently as a meal consisting of multiple courses, the minimum being two and maximum as many as seven. The possible courses could be the Starters, the Soup, the Fish, the Entrée, the Meat, the Dessert and lastly the Cheese course. But it should me mentioned that dinner with many courses occur at formal events such as dinner parties or banquets because the different courses tend to be served over a longer time period starting around 7.30 pm. This custom is typical of Scotland while in Spain dinner is typically served late in the evening, no earlier than 9 or 10 p.m.

The term Dinner being used to signify different meals caused much confusion over differences in meal times when the British or French traveled between city and country. Dinner is generally followed by tea or coffee served with chocolates or other sweets. Dinner2