I was chatting with a good friend a few weeks back and was told of a recent argument discussion she had about the confounding names of our British mealtimes. The essence of it being, “Do we eat lunch or dinner at midday, is it called dinner, tea or supper in the evening? Why do some call it one thing while others call it another?” At the time she and I were eating brunch at about 2.30pm which might have confused the matter even further.

Now I had thought that this long-running misunderstanding was caused by past conventions of the upper classes and aristocracy, the Georgian and Victorian regencies enjoying their afternoon teas of cucumber sandwiches and dainty cakes. I’d assumed that use of the word ‘tea’ as an afternoon meal had simply stuck or become misused over time, and while that does hold a grain of truth there’s quite a bit more to it as I found out.

The confusion really arises because the times at which Britons ate their meals changed significantly over the more recent centuries. In and before the 17th Century everyone knew where they stood, there being just three meals each day regardless of class, station or profession. Breakfast speaks for itself, eaten in morning after rising. Next came dinner, the main meal of the day, eaten around midday and finally an evening supper before bed, which could be as early as 4pm on short winter days for those rising early the next day.

In the 18th Century, however, differing social behaviour in the upper-classes and economic changes for the working man (think Industrial Revolution) pushed the main dinner meal later and later into the afternoon and early evening. The previously less common ‘luncheon’ became a more permanent fixture at midday to fill the gap left behind. For the Lords and Ladies who could afford such extravagances as paraffin lamps, dinner could even be eaten after dark as late as 8pm, but again this left hunger pangs to be satisfied in the afternoon, so it became the fashion to take ‘afternoon tea.’

Afternoon tea (aka ‘low tea’) is something we’re still pretty familiar with. We might not treat it as quite the ritual we once did but it’s still possible to enjoy afternoon tea of scones, pastries and other fancifuls at English restaurants and tea shops. The UK Tea Council and others attribute the concept of afternoon tea to Anna Maria Stanhope, the 7th Duchess of Bedford. The Duchess, a friend and senior Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, decided upon this late afternoon meal to fill the increasing interval between lunch and dinner. Inviting her fellow courtesans (it was considered a bit limp for men to take afternoon tea) to partake, it soon became very fashionable amongst the socialites.

The middle and lower classes also began to take a late afternoon teatime, becoming known as ‘high tea.’ By contrast a high tea, the name quite often wrongly used interchangeably with afternoon tea, would not contain the pastries, cakes and triangular sandwiches enjoyed at a Lady Stanhope gathering, but a selection of cold meats, pickles, cheese and bread. It was a much more substantial meal and would replace a later dinner altogether.

And so, taking all of this into account, is it even possible to say there are right ways and wrong ways to call our meals? Besides, it has much more to do with geography than class these days, but if we’re using history as a yardstick then I say we’re all correct! Tea and supper, at some point in history, have both been eaten in the early evening. Dinner, during one period or another, was eaten at midday, afternoon, evening and night. So whatever you personally call these mealtimes, someone in history has called them the same.

There is just one little fly in the teapot with that conclusion. Dinner, no matter what time of day it was eaten, was always the main meal of the day. At no instant in history was it followed by a later, larger meal. If your main evening meal of tea or supper is preceded by a snack-sized, midday dinner, then you’re probably getting it wro…. Well, just leave this last part out if you’re winning the argument!

GDave

Devonshire cream tea recipe: (as pictured above) is by Angela Nilsen at the BBC Good Food website. Top notch scones, perfect first time.

Sources and good further reading: An excerpt from Food & Cooking in 17th Century Britain by Peter Brears & English Heritage, and an excellent article by Sherrie McMillan for History Magazine.