I have been wanting to write about a very controversial topic for some time. Do not panic; it is not politics or the thermostat wars that some couples endure in the house. It is not apple versus android, or electric versus gas vehicles. This article is about the terminology of our meals.
I have a friend that I like to occasionally pole fun at over their use of the word supper. On most days I eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Whereas my friend has apparently never eaten lunch; he has breakfast, dinner and supper. My dad would not agree with me; he stubbornly refused to let go of the term supper. I was corrupted by the modern world and adopted the terms lunch and dinner for the second and third meal of the day. It is now time for us to digest what I have learned about these terms.
For centuries most people in the world lived in an agrarian society and worked very hard and tedious tasks. Breakfast was a very important meal and rarely skipped. Lunch, which many civilizations called dinner, was served at noontime and was the biggest meal of the day. This large meal provided the fuel for the rigors of physical labor to finish the workday. Keep in mind that artificial lighting has only been prevalent for about 200 years in the city, much less in rural areas. When the sun set, the world was plunged into darkness.
I cannot even imagine what farm life had to be like before electricity, yet alone life inside the house. This is the reason the internet states that most people in the northern hemisphere called the last meal of the day, the smallest meal, supper. In winter it was eaten just before or after sunset. When does the internet say lunch was invented?
As cities grew and artificial lighting arrived, the big and main meal of the day eventually creeped to much later in the day. Lunch became the meal to fill in the long period between the first and last meal of the day. It was a smaller meal. The advent of long days of factory work is also given credit for the need to eat a light lunch meal to hold people over until the final meal of the day is eaten.
The meaning of supper as the last and smallest meal of the day no longer applied. Society has adopted the breakfast, lunch, and dinner moniker. My father never adjusted to these new terms. I would usually point out to those who insist it is dinner and supper, that I have never seen a menu at a restaurant with anything other than breakfast, lunch and dinner. It might be different if I was a Packer fan and lived in the world of Supper Clubs.
For the last 20 years of my life, I have adopted the strategy of eating breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. Nutritionist Adele Davis is credited with this saying. Interestingly, there is a web page on a USDA website that shows the work researchers did to see if following that actual eating pattern was fact or fiction for weight loss. I notice Adele did not use the term supper.
What is the meaning of supper today? Is it the smallest meal of the day or the last meal of the day? Does it matter? Now I am hungry; it is 10 at night and time for my ice cream snack. Oh wait, there is also an internet claim that a light snack just before bedtime is called supper in France.
I guess that is my answer. I will have 4 meals today, and my supper is now waiting for me.
Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you enjoy your Christmas ????, (meal/shindig)
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