Dinner

An amount of formality may be present at a dinner

Dinner is the main meal of the day, eaten at midday or in the evening. The meal normally consists of a combination of cooked, or sometimes uncooked, proteins (meat, fish or legumes), with vegetables, and/or starch products like rice, noodles, or potatoes.

The word "dinner" comes from the French word dîner, the "chief repast of the day", ultimately from the Latin disiunare, which means to break fast (as in the English word "breakfast"). A dinner can also be a more sophisticated meal, such as a banquet.

Dinner customs around the world

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, dinner traditionally meant the main meal of the day. Because of differences in custom as to when this meal was taken, dinner might mean the evening meal (typically used by upper class people), or the midday meal (typically used by working class people, who describe their evening meal as tea). Vestiges of the English class system remain in the choice of word for the evening meal - a person with upper-class antecedents might use neither "dinner" nor "tea" but, confusingly, "supper" for a less formal meal (which people in the North use to refer to a hot, often milky, drink such as cocoa or hot chocolate and biscuits, taken immediately before retiring for the night).

Large formal evening meals are invariably described as dinners (hence, also, the term dinner jacket which is a form of evening dress).

School dinners is a British phrase for school lunches – reflecting the fact that such school meals were originally provided chiefly for the children of the working class, who typically had their main meal in the middle of the day – and women working in school canteens are generally known in the UK as dinner ladies (however, if a pupil brings his or her food from home, it is a packed lunch).

Ambiguity can be avoided by using lunch for the midday meal.

A more formal definition of "dinner", especially outside North America, is any meal consisting of multiple courses. The minimum is usually two but there can be as many as seven. Possible courses are:

• Hors d'oeuvres (also known as appetisers, starters)
• Soup course (occasionally sorbet)
• Fish course
• Entrée course (which may be a palate-cleansing course such as sorbet)
• Meat course
• Dessert (also known as the Sweet or pudding course)
• Cheese course

(after this it is customary to serve coffee, or brandy and cigars after the Loyal Toast)

In French, entrée means entry, admission. L'entrée (singular) or les entrées (plural) are the appetisers. In Great Britain, entrée may be used for the same thing but the term starters is more commonly used. In Australia, entrée is commonly used instead of appetizers or starters. Although it was originally one of the earlier courses in North America also, it is now used for the main course. OED lists it as the main course, but gives an additional British English meaning: a ready-made dish served between the fish course and the main course.

Dinner is generally followed by tea or coffee, sometimes served with mint chocolates or other sweets, or with brandy or a digestif. When dinner consists of many courses, these tend to be smaller and to be served over a longer time period than a dinner with only two or three courses. Dinners with many courses tend to occur at formal events such as dinner parties or banquets.

This formal version of the meal is generally served in the evening, starting at some time between 7.30 and 8.30 (in the Netherlands, however, typically at 6). It may be served at midday or shortly afterwards; this tends, however, to be more typical of Scotland than of other countries. In Spain and Portugal, where lunch is eaten relatively late, dinner is typically served late in the evening, no earlier than 8 p.m.

Australia, Canada, and United States

In Australia and most parts of the United States and Canada, dinner is the evening meal served around 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. In some regions, such as the southern or rural mid-western United States, the Atlantic provinces, parts of Saskatchewan, and Quebec, the evening repast is called supper (souper in Quebec), and dinner (dîner) refers to the noon repast, which itself would be called lunch in most parts of the United States and Canada. In the Southern United States, the main repast of the day is called Dinner, whether taken at noon or in the evening. On farms it was traditionally taken at noon. If Dinner, the main repast of the day, is at noon, the evening repast is called Supper. If Dinner, the main repast of the day, is in the evening the noon repast is called Lunch. Mainly in Australia, tea and dinner are synonyms.

Arab Culture

In the Arab world, dinner is the third meal of the day and is consumed late in the evening, especially during the hot summer months usually between 9:00 p.m. and midnight. It is usually a light meal, lunch being the main meal of the day.

Chinese Culture

In Chinese culture, dinner usually refers to the main meal of the day, which occurs in the evening. Dinner is usually served with rice and a set of shared dishes in the center of the table. Soup is often served during the course of dinner or after.

External links

• "What time is dinner?", History Magazine, October/November 2001

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