Well, what I’ve learned from American movies is that Americans usually eat something light for lunch and their main meal is dinner. Once I was facetiming with my my American friend, it was her lunch time she said that she will just eat a small salad and that will be her lunch! SALAD ALONE! A SMALL SALAD! I was kinda shocked lol where I am from we usually prepare a proper meal for lunch and we eat something light for dinner like a salad or leftovers from lunch etc…
30 comments
Generally, because we have very limited lunch breaks at work, we tend to have small snacks for lunch, and a larger dinner.
For a majority of Americans I would say this is accurate, that lunch is a light meal and supper is the main meal.
However in traditional rural / agricultural life, “dinner” would have been eaten in lieu of lunch and would have been the main meal of the day, eaten between noon and 1400 or so, and supper would have been a light meal. This was designed around the patterns of farm life (and the fact that it would have been hottest and least desirable to work outside during that part of the day. I suspect this remains true in some places for some people.
For example my grandparents followed this pattern, having grown up in a rural area in the 20s and 30s.
Lunch is typically light due to its proximity to breakfast. Americans eat something smallish for breakfast (yogurt, cereal, toast, etc) then lunch at around noon. Also lunch in America isn’t really that big of deal is more like a “i need something to eat to keep me going” meal.
Dinner is larger because it’s like seven hours after lunch. Dinner is also generally the special meal of the day. It usually is not only the largest but the best dish.
EDIT: the main exception is brunch on weekends. Then we go all out on the food.
It is but we are usually busy in the middle of the day so it tends to be light.
It sounds like you’ve answered your own question. As you’ve realized, we typically consider dinner as the main meal of the day.
Dinner is most typically the largest meal of the day for most of us. We still have half a work day and lots to do, having a heavy meal midday is sort of impractical.
No, lunch is a small light meal and dinner is a big meal.
I don’t get how it can be otherwise. How can you cook a big meal in the middle of the day if you’re at work or at school? Dinner is the big family meal because that’s when everyone comes home.
Dinner is usually the main meal. My lunch is basically a heavy breakfast because I don’t eat breakfast.
Yeah, it is interesting to see what the rest of the world does in terms of how and when they eat. Breakfast and lunch are meals, but they usually pale in comparison to supper.
I was in Europe a couple of months ago, and it was interesting to see some of the hotels try to cater a breakfast to American tourists. You could tell that it was not their thing there.
Not for me. Dinner is a much more important meal.
>where I am from we usually prepare a proper meal for lunch
Why can’t a salad be a proper meal for lunch. Depending on the protein and fixings you put in it, a salad can easily be 500 – 1000 calories and have ingredients from the main food groups.
The salads I usually make will have lettuce, tomatoes, onions, red / green peppers, jalapenos, black olives, chicken, tuna or beef, hot sauce, vinegar, salt, black pepper, croutons, etc.
That fills me up just as well as any other meal would.
>and we eat something light for dinner like a salad or leftovers from lunch etc…
Yep, different cultures have different customs. Some places don’t even have a lunch. It’s based on culture, customs and tradition for foods and when to eat.
Lunch is usually done in the middle of the school or work day. Sometimes in K-12 school, it can be quite early. I think the first lunch period at my high school started as early as 10:30am.
In college or in the work force, you may not have access to a fridge, microwave, or stove/oven during lunch time. So a lunch is often something you can eat without refrigerating. Or you go out or get delivery, but most people don’t do that every day as it can get expensive.
If you’re working in the central business district, its pretty common for sandwich/salad/soup places to open up to cater for quick business lunches, or pizza places selling slices, stuff like that.
In general dinner is the bigger meal here.
>where I am from
Which is???
It sounds like you’ve already figured this out. Lunch is a small meal or sometimes skipped altogether, and dinner is the larger meal here.
Nope. Lunch is small and quick. Dinner is the big meal of the day, normally between 6-8PM in my house.
Dinner is the time that everyone is usually home to share a proper meal, so that’s our cultural norm. If I prepared a large meal in the middle of the day, I’d be eating it alone 5 days of the week.
Dinner is usually the largest meal of the day, especially during the work week. However, when I was going to the gym after work, I would eat a bigger lunch on workout days to keep me going, since I was eating dinner later than usual on those days.
Work work work! Lunch is not the big meal here. Wonder how much obesity would go down if people swapped lunch and dinner sizes
I consider dinner to be my main meal. I normally do the traditional protein, starch, veggie for my dinner.
My lunch is typically a small sandwich or wrap.
I feel like you answered your own question lol. Dinner is our main meal, lunch is usually lighter.
For me personally Lunch and Dinner are my main meals and I rarely eat breakfast. However unlike many people I go into second shift so I have more time to eat lunch
I work 7-5:30 so lunch is light and quick so I’m not in a food coma lol. I’ll have a larger meal for dinner
A big lunch makes me fall asleep which is not a good thing at work!
Do all adults go home for three hours for lunch?
When I cook dinner it can be quick, but pretty frequently we’ll make something that takes an hour to prepare and cook through.
When we make brown rice we turn that on way before we start cooking the rest of the dinner.
People don’t like to have a big meal in the middle of the day and be weighed down in the afternoon. At least that is me. At night you can unwind and relax after dinner.
I feel like most Americans eat a moderate breakfast, light lunch, and large super
Dinner was the big deal growing up for me because it was the only meal, and the only time of day that the whole family sat down and ate/spent time together. It was mandatory family time. Other meals were done individually and on the go.
Everyone’s diff. I skip breakfast almost always and just eat two moderate sized meals. Not really a huge dinner or lunch kinda person.
It’s not the main of the day for most people. Personally, I usually skip breakfast during the work week and have a decent lunch, but dinner is the larger (or at least more involved) meal.
To give you some idea.
My goals for the day are 1/4 of my calories for Breakfast, 1/4 for Lunch and 1/2 for dinner.
Lunch and breakfast are small quick meals eaten in 10-15 minutes. Dinner is a bigger meal I sit down to and relax at.
Lunch is bigger and dinner is lighter in Latin America (and other regions), but dinner is the big meal for us. That’s when everyone is home, kids are back from school or activities, parents are home from work, it’s the meal you wanna drag out for longer conversation. As far as the western hemisphere is concerned, the US eats bigger for dinner. Though, what time dinner is can vary. Here in NY, it’s typical to eat dinner close to 9 PM, but all my family down south have already eaten by 6:30.
My gf still makes fun of me for preferring to eat a sandwich or something small for lunch when I’m at work.