Ahh, dinner, the last meal you eat before you go to sleep…usually.
Golden-era Americana shows time and time again that the husband comes home from work, expecting dinner to be ready and waiting. While we’ve strayed from the singular-income, nuclear-family identity a fair bit, an early evening dinner is still common practice.
In fact, an AgEcon study found that Americans typically ate dinner at 6:22 p.m., if you really want to get specific.
However, the world is a big place, with many cultures choosing to eat earlier or later, depending on where you are. If you're a foodie who's planning to travel sometime soon, you may want to refer to this list.
This begs the question: when does the rest of the world eat?
Europe
European dinners span a wide time range, varying from 4 to 5 p.m. in Norway, 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 7 to 9 p.m. in France, 8 to 10 p.m. in Italy, and 9 to 11 p.m. in Spain, just to name a few examples.
Spain is often considered the country with the latest dinner time, with restaurants full of hungry patrons well into the night. This lateness didn’t start as a cultural thing, however— it was actually a political move. According to the BBC, General Francisco Franco moved Spain’s clocks an hour forward waaaay back in 1940 in solidarity with Nazi Germany, aligning the country with Central European Time rather than Greenwich Mean Time, which is what it should be a part of. The change made no difference to the Spaniards, who continued to live their lives as if nothing had changed, and the clocks were just never changed back.
Asia
Many Asian countries tend to eat at roughly the same time as Americans. In China, dinners are usually between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., while in Japan, dinners start around 6 p.m. Korean dinners are generally between 6 and 8 p.m., and in India, between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
While it's common to find late-night eaters in populated areas around the world, a late dinner has not yet solidified in a city like Tokyo. Similar to North America, dinner service in Tokyo typically lasts from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., with kitchens usually closing by 11.
Mexico
The most southern North American country does dinner a little differently, mostly because a traditional “dinner” is pretty non-existent. In Mexico, the biggest meal of the day is lunch, often a three-course meal that keeps you satisfied until you go to sleep. If you happen to get hungry later in the evening, you can opt for “la cena,” between 7 and 9 p.m. La cena is usually a small snack and a hot drink to tide you over until breakfast.
Other Countries
- South Africans eat between 8 and 10 p.m.
- Brazilians eat between 7 and 8 p.m.
- Australians eat between 5 and 6 p.m.
- Germans eat between 5 and 7 p.m.
- Greeks eat between 10 and 11 p.m.
- Canadians eat between 5 and 7 p.m.
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