Come and Get It!The Evolution of Dinner Me in the US (And Abroad)

"DINNER'S READY...!!!!"

You can probably imagine that in Italy, the evening meal is on of the main events of the day. In fact, dinner is probably exceeded only by lunch in terms of gathering everybody together at one time. Italy isn't alone in this concept. Americans are easily just as locked into their evening habits as most other countries.

Bet you probably didn't know that "dinner time" (originally known as "dining time") is one of those concepts that evolved over time. And that actually dinner was originally eaten around midday because lighting as free and when it got dark most folks went to bed.

Here's where most people get confused. History-magazine.com reports that the names of meals and their general times were once quite standard. Everyone in medieval England knew that you ate breakfast first thing in the morning, dinner in the middle of the day, and supper not long before you went to bed, around sundown.

According to the medical website Mercola.com, during the 1700's, wealth and technology -- coupled with more peaceful times -- led people to expand their forays into the night for business, parties, and entertainment. The wealthy (who spent less time in governmental affairs and more on leisure) tended to sleep in more often, pushing that primary dinner time out of the middle of the day and into the early-to-late evening.

Meanwhile the middle class found itself picking up the slack: working longer and traveling more to and from work and this also pushed dinner to the evening hours and created snacking times just to satisfy the hunger brought on by extended intervals between meals.

In the Middle Ages, the aristocracy ate the most formal dinner around noon or one p.m. As was the custom of the time, this dinner was more than a meal -- it was a statement of wealth and power, with dozens of servants coming and going in a whirlwind of food and drink.