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What is the origin of 3 meals a day?
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Wondering if there is an origin of the "3 meals a day" concept. For example, in English we have specific words for them:
- Breakfast.
- Lunch.
- Dinner.
But we have a few more for other meals in the day (I can only think of one actually):
- Brunch.
According to this we can add:
- Elevenses.
- Tea.
- Supper.
And then we have many special occasion (time independent) ones:
- BBQ.
- Feast.
- ...
But the main ones are Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. We don't have many other specific names for meal times in the day.
Wondering if it's like this in all cultures currently, and if not, how variable it is (I know nothing about this). And then wondering where it got started if it's not universal.
The paleo diet has a lot of experimentation with meal times. Some even suggest a 8-12 meals a day. But it's too early to have names for those. Then they speculate about hunter-gatherer societies potentially eating at most 1-time in a day, maybe not for several days in a row. So wonder what kind of concepts they had for meals.
cultural-history food
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
favorite
Wondering if there is an origin of the "3 meals a day" concept. For example, in English we have specific words for them:
- Breakfast.
- Lunch.
- Dinner.
But we have a few more for other meals in the day (I can only think of one actually):
- Brunch.
According to this we can add:
- Elevenses.
- Tea.
- Supper.
And then we have many special occasion (time independent) ones:
- BBQ.
- Feast.
- ...
But the main ones are Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. We don't have many other specific names for meal times in the day.
Wondering if it's like this in all cultures currently, and if not, how variable it is (I know nothing about this). And then wondering where it got started if it's not universal.
The paleo diet has a lot of experimentation with meal times. Some even suggest a 8-12 meals a day. But it's too early to have names for those. Then they speculate about hunter-gatherer societies potentially eating at most 1-time in a day, maybe not for several days in a row. So wonder what kind of concepts they had for meals.
cultural-history food
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
At least from memory, this is a modern concept - I think most cultures have 2 meals a day with the larger meal eaten at midday. I suspect I might start my research with looking into the difference between supper and dinner.
– Mark C. Wallace♦
3 hours ago
2
North China has 3 meals a day,with a summer fruit snack mid-afternoon
– axsvl77
3 hours ago
1
@axsvl77 - OOC, by "North China" do you mean "roughly Yellow River valley vs. Yangtze valley", or do you mean Manchuria?
– T.E.D.♦
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
8
down vote
favorite
up vote
8
down vote
favorite
Wondering if there is an origin of the "3 meals a day" concept. For example, in English we have specific words for them:
- Breakfast.
- Lunch.
- Dinner.
But we have a few more for other meals in the day (I can only think of one actually):
- Brunch.
According to this we can add:
- Elevenses.
- Tea.
- Supper.
And then we have many special occasion (time independent) ones:
- BBQ.
- Feast.
- ...
But the main ones are Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. We don't have many other specific names for meal times in the day.
Wondering if it's like this in all cultures currently, and if not, how variable it is (I know nothing about this). And then wondering where it got started if it's not universal.
The paleo diet has a lot of experimentation with meal times. Some even suggest a 8-12 meals a day. But it's too early to have names for those. Then they speculate about hunter-gatherer societies potentially eating at most 1-time in a day, maybe not for several days in a row. So wonder what kind of concepts they had for meals.
cultural-history food
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Wondering if there is an origin of the "3 meals a day" concept. For example, in English we have specific words for them:
- Breakfast.
- Lunch.
- Dinner.
But we have a few more for other meals in the day (I can only think of one actually):
- Brunch.
According to this we can add:
- Elevenses.
- Tea.
- Supper.
And then we have many special occasion (time independent) ones:
- BBQ.
- Feast.
- ...
But the main ones are Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. We don't have many other specific names for meal times in the day.
Wondering if it's like this in all cultures currently, and if not, how variable it is (I know nothing about this). And then wondering where it got started if it's not universal.
The paleo diet has a lot of experimentation with meal times. Some even suggest a 8-12 meals a day. But it's too early to have names for those. Then they speculate about hunter-gatherer societies potentially eating at most 1-time in a day, maybe not for several days in a row. So wonder what kind of concepts they had for meals.
cultural-history food
cultural-history food
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
edited 3 hours ago
Mark C. Wallace♦
22.2k868107
22.2k868107
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
asked 4 hours ago
Lance Pollard
1434
1434
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Lance Pollard is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
2
At least from memory, this is a modern concept - I think most cultures have 2 meals a day with the larger meal eaten at midday. I suspect I might start my research with looking into the difference between supper and dinner.
– Mark C. Wallace♦
3 hours ago
2
North China has 3 meals a day,with a summer fruit snack mid-afternoon
– axsvl77
3 hours ago
1
@axsvl77 - OOC, by "North China" do you mean "roughly Yellow River valley vs. Yangtze valley", or do you mean Manchuria?
– T.E.D.♦
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
2
At least from memory, this is a modern concept - I think most cultures have 2 meals a day with the larger meal eaten at midday. I suspect I might start my research with looking into the difference between supper and dinner.
– Mark C. Wallace♦
3 hours ago
2
North China has 3 meals a day,with a summer fruit snack mid-afternoon
– axsvl77
3 hours ago
1
@axsvl77 - OOC, by "North China" do you mean "roughly Yellow River valley vs. Yangtze valley", or do you mean Manchuria?
– T.E.D.♦
2 hours ago
2
2
At least from memory, this is a modern concept - I think most cultures have 2 meals a day with the larger meal eaten at midday. I suspect I might start my research with looking into the difference between supper and dinner.
– Mark C. Wallace♦
3 hours ago
At least from memory, this is a modern concept - I think most cultures have 2 meals a day with the larger meal eaten at midday. I suspect I might start my research with looking into the difference between supper and dinner.
– Mark C. Wallace♦
3 hours ago
2
2
North China has 3 meals a day,with a summer fruit snack mid-afternoon
– axsvl77
3 hours ago
North China has 3 meals a day,with a summer fruit snack mid-afternoon
– axsvl77
3 hours ago
1
1
@axsvl77 - OOC, by "North China" do you mean "roughly Yellow River valley vs. Yangtze valley", or do you mean Manchuria?
– T.E.D.♦
2 hours ago
@axsvl77 - OOC, by "North China" do you mean "roughly Yellow River valley vs. Yangtze valley", or do you mean Manchuria?
– T.E.D.♦
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
4
down vote
accepted
In "Millennium From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization
Has Changed Over a Thousand Years"*, Mortimer explains the origin of 3 meals a day:
As for mealtimes, few people in northern Europe ate breakfast in 1501.
The medieval two-meal rhythm of the day persisted: dinner was at about
11 a.m. and supper at about 5 p.m. But as more people moved into
towns, and made their living by working long hours for other townsmen,
the time at which they could have supper was pushed back into the
evening. This meant that dinner, the main meal of the day, had to be
eaten a couple of hours later and became lunch. It followed that you
had to eat an early meal, breakfast, in order to get through to
lunchtime. School also helped bring about this change, for more and
more boys went to school, and the long lessons required that they eat
breakfast. Hence breakfast was ubiquitous in towns by 1600.
Mortimer concludes:
By 1600 most people followed a routine that you will probably
recognise. They washed their face and hands and cleaned their teeth
when they got up in the morning. They had breakfast and went to school
or work for about eight o’clock. They ate lunch around midday, and
came home and ate supper with metal knives and spoons off plates,
warming themselves at a fireplace.
As for hunter-gatherer, James Woodburn writes in Egalitarian Societies :
neither !Kung nor Hadza usually place much emphasis on formal meal
times. A great deal of food is eaten informally throughout the day.[...]
Marshall records that 'Meat is not habitually cooked and eaten as a
family meal among the !Kung . . . The men, women, and children may
cook their pieces when and as they wish, often roasting bits in the
coals and hot ashes and eating them alone at odd times'
*The book was also printed under the title "Human Race: 10 Centuries of Change on Earth"
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
Beautiful, thank you so much!
– Lance Pollard
55 mins ago
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
4
down vote
accepted
In "Millennium From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization
Has Changed Over a Thousand Years"*, Mortimer explains the origin of 3 meals a day:
As for mealtimes, few people in northern Europe ate breakfast in 1501.
The medieval two-meal rhythm of the day persisted: dinner was at about
11 a.m. and supper at about 5 p.m. But as more people moved into
towns, and made their living by working long hours for other townsmen,
the time at which they could have supper was pushed back into the
evening. This meant that dinner, the main meal of the day, had to be
eaten a couple of hours later and became lunch. It followed that you
had to eat an early meal, breakfast, in order to get through to
lunchtime. School also helped bring about this change, for more and
more boys went to school, and the long lessons required that they eat
breakfast. Hence breakfast was ubiquitous in towns by 1600.
Mortimer concludes:
By 1600 most people followed a routine that you will probably
recognise. They washed their face and hands and cleaned their teeth
when they got up in the morning. They had breakfast and went to school
or work for about eight o’clock. They ate lunch around midday, and
came home and ate supper with metal knives and spoons off plates,
warming themselves at a fireplace.
As for hunter-gatherer, James Woodburn writes in Egalitarian Societies :
neither !Kung nor Hadza usually place much emphasis on formal meal
times. A great deal of food is eaten informally throughout the day.[...]
Marshall records that 'Meat is not habitually cooked and eaten as a
family meal among the !Kung . . . The men, women, and children may
cook their pieces when and as they wish, often roasting bits in the
coals and hot ashes and eating them alone at odd times'
*The book was also printed under the title "Human Race: 10 Centuries of Change on Earth"
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
Beautiful, thank you so much!
– Lance Pollard
55 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
accepted
In "Millennium From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization
Has Changed Over a Thousand Years"*, Mortimer explains the origin of 3 meals a day:
As for mealtimes, few people in northern Europe ate breakfast in 1501.
The medieval two-meal rhythm of the day persisted: dinner was at about
11 a.m. and supper at about 5 p.m. But as more people moved into
towns, and made their living by working long hours for other townsmen,
the time at which they could have supper was pushed back into the
evening. This meant that dinner, the main meal of the day, had to be
eaten a couple of hours later and became lunch. It followed that you
had to eat an early meal, breakfast, in order to get through to
lunchtime. School also helped bring about this change, for more and
more boys went to school, and the long lessons required that they eat
breakfast. Hence breakfast was ubiquitous in towns by 1600.
Mortimer concludes:
By 1600 most people followed a routine that you will probably
recognise. They washed their face and hands and cleaned their teeth
when they got up in the morning. They had breakfast and went to school
or work for about eight o’clock. They ate lunch around midday, and
came home and ate supper with metal knives and spoons off plates,
warming themselves at a fireplace.
As for hunter-gatherer, James Woodburn writes in Egalitarian Societies :
neither !Kung nor Hadza usually place much emphasis on formal meal
times. A great deal of food is eaten informally throughout the day.[...]
Marshall records that 'Meat is not habitually cooked and eaten as a
family meal among the !Kung . . . The men, women, and children may
cook their pieces when and as they wish, often roasting bits in the
coals and hot ashes and eating them alone at odd times'
*The book was also printed under the title "Human Race: 10 Centuries of Change on Earth"
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
Beautiful, thank you so much!
– Lance Pollard
55 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
accepted
up vote
4
down vote
accepted
In "Millennium From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization
Has Changed Over a Thousand Years"*, Mortimer explains the origin of 3 meals a day:
As for mealtimes, few people in northern Europe ate breakfast in 1501.
The medieval two-meal rhythm of the day persisted: dinner was at about
11 a.m. and supper at about 5 p.m. But as more people moved into
towns, and made their living by working long hours for other townsmen,
the time at which they could have supper was pushed back into the
evening. This meant that dinner, the main meal of the day, had to be
eaten a couple of hours later and became lunch. It followed that you
had to eat an early meal, breakfast, in order to get through to
lunchtime. School also helped bring about this change, for more and
more boys went to school, and the long lessons required that they eat
breakfast. Hence breakfast was ubiquitous in towns by 1600.
Mortimer concludes:
By 1600 most people followed a routine that you will probably
recognise. They washed their face and hands and cleaned their teeth
when they got up in the morning. They had breakfast and went to school
or work for about eight o’clock. They ate lunch around midday, and
came home and ate supper with metal knives and spoons off plates,
warming themselves at a fireplace.
As for hunter-gatherer, James Woodburn writes in Egalitarian Societies :
neither !Kung nor Hadza usually place much emphasis on formal meal
times. A great deal of food is eaten informally throughout the day.[...]
Marshall records that 'Meat is not habitually cooked and eaten as a
family meal among the !Kung . . . The men, women, and children may
cook their pieces when and as they wish, often roasting bits in the
coals and hot ashes and eating them alone at odd times'
*The book was also printed under the title "Human Race: 10 Centuries of Change on Earth"
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
In "Millennium From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization
Has Changed Over a Thousand Years"*, Mortimer explains the origin of 3 meals a day:
As for mealtimes, few people in northern Europe ate breakfast in 1501.
The medieval two-meal rhythm of the day persisted: dinner was at about
11 a.m. and supper at about 5 p.m. But as more people moved into
towns, and made their living by working long hours for other townsmen,
the time at which they could have supper was pushed back into the
evening. This meant that dinner, the main meal of the day, had to be
eaten a couple of hours later and became lunch. It followed that you
had to eat an early meal, breakfast, in order to get through to
lunchtime. School also helped bring about this change, for more and
more boys went to school, and the long lessons required that they eat
breakfast. Hence breakfast was ubiquitous in towns by 1600.
Mortimer concludes:
By 1600 most people followed a routine that you will probably
recognise. They washed their face and hands and cleaned their teeth
when they got up in the morning. They had breakfast and went to school
or work for about eight o’clock. They ate lunch around midday, and
came home and ate supper with metal knives and spoons off plates,
warming themselves at a fireplace.
As for hunter-gatherer, James Woodburn writes in Egalitarian Societies :
neither !Kung nor Hadza usually place much emphasis on formal meal
times. A great deal of food is eaten informally throughout the day.[...]
Marshall records that 'Meat is not habitually cooked and eaten as a
family meal among the !Kung . . . The men, women, and children may
cook their pieces when and as they wish, often roasting bits in the
coals and hot ashes and eating them alone at odd times'
*The book was also printed under the title "Human Race: 10 Centuries of Change on Earth"
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
answered 1 hour ago
Enora
24326
24326
Beautiful, thank you so much!
– Lance Pollard
55 mins ago
add a comment |Â
Beautiful, thank you so much!
– Lance Pollard
55 mins ago
Beautiful, thank you so much!
– Lance Pollard
55 mins ago
Beautiful, thank you so much!
– Lance Pollard
55 mins ago
add a comment |Â
Lance Pollard is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Lance Pollard is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Lance Pollard is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Lance Pollard is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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2
At least from memory, this is a modern concept - I think most cultures have 2 meals a day with the larger meal eaten at midday. I suspect I might start my research with looking into the difference between supper and dinner.
– Mark C. Wallace♦
3 hours ago
2
North China has 3 meals a day,with a summer fruit snack mid-afternoon
– axsvl77
3 hours ago
1
@axsvl77 - OOC, by "North China" do you mean "roughly Yellow River valley vs. Yangtze valley", or do you mean Manchuria?
– T.E.D.♦
2 hours ago