DINNER

'Dinner' is a meal eaten in the evening. The meal normally consists of a combination of cooked animal or vegetarian proteins (meat, fish or soy), vegetables, and 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''.

Contents

History

Dinner customs around the world

United Kingdom

Australia, Canada, and United States

Arab Culture

External links

History

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word "dinner" referred to ''breakfast'' in Middle English. It derives from late Latin ''disiunare'' (to break fast) which has also provided both the French ''déjeuner'' (breakfast or lunch, depending on region) and ''dîner'' (supper or lunch, depending on region). The Spanish word ''desayuno'', or "breakfast," also comes from this Latin root.
In well-off families in England during the mid-17th century, dinner was served at any time between 11 a.m. and noon and was a rich, heavy, alcoholic repast that lasted for anything up to 3 or 4 hours. After the repast proper, the men would stay at the table to smoke, chat, and drink, while the women would retire to a boudoir to talk, sew, and brew tea.
Then, during the 18th century, dinner was served at a gradually later and later hour until by the early 1800s, the normal time of this meal in upper-class households was between 7 and 8.30 p.m., an extra repast called luncheon having been created to fill the midday gap.

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''.
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 appetisers 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, where lunch is eaten relatively late, dinner is typically served late in the evening, no earlier than 9 or 10 p.m.

Australia, Canada, and United States

In Australia and most parts of the United States and Canada, dinner is the evening repast served around 5:30 to 8:30 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 generally eaten late at night, normally around 10 PM. It is typically a lighter meal than lunch.

External links

★ Dinner Party Etiquette

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