The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

[LissaC]

I’ve always wandered what exactly “supper” stands for. I had already read it somewhere, guessing it to be a very light meal in the late evening.
Initially I thought it was more something like a snack

My thought exactly! I was convinced supper was the light meal some people have after dinner, before going to bed (cookies/bread/toast with milk/tea, ect)

 

[Duck59]

I’ve always wandered what exactly “supper” stands for. I had already read it somewhere, guessing it to be a very light meal in the late evening.
Initially I thought it was more something like a snack

In my experience, the word supper (in an evening meal context) tends to be used by posher and/or affected types, presumably on the grounds that it sounds classier. To be honest, most of the people I've heard using it seem like twerps.

 

[Windigo]

I’ve always wandered what exactly “supper” stands for. I had already read it somewhere, guessing it to be a very light meal in the late evening.
Initially I thought it was more something like a snack

My inlaws used to have supper, because they stemmed from coal miners. They ate a sandwich and a bag of crisps at about 21.00. A coal miner needs much food..

I always declined, I was full after my hot tea AND pudding.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

In my experience, the word supper (in an evening meal context) tends to be used by posher and/or affected types, presumably on the grounds that it sounds classier. To be honest, most of the people I've heard using it seem like twerps.

Oh ok, I see.
I guess it's the same feeling I get when I hear the word 'apericena', which has become very popular among the snobs and food influencers who populate television, thinking it is cooler or more chic than the old-fashioned 'aperitivo'. And Milan has not escaped this, alas.

Basically 'apericena' is a word formed from 'aperitivo' and 'cena' (dinner. Ok, no supper and it stands for something that actually already exists around here, that is the aperitif you have before dinner, as I said before. This word is meant to sound like a mega aperitif where you practically have dinner.
It's all quite ridiculous, also because generally our aperitif is quite abundant and also very cheap. Thus you can already have somehow a dinner if you want, with only 5 euros (wine included)

 

[MypinchofItaly]

My inlaws used to have supper, because they stemmed from coal miners. They ate a sandwich and a bag of crisps at about 21.00. A coal miner needs much food..

I always declined, I was full after my hot tea AND pudding.

My maternal grandfather and uncles were miners in Sardinia when there were still coal mines especially in the south of the Island.
Right, they need to eat a lot and keep energy.

 

[Windigo]

My maternal grandfather and uncles were miners in Sardinia when there were still coal mines especially in the south of the Island.
Right, they need to eat a lot and keep energy.

Yes a lot of Northern and middle England is also mining based, and although my inlaws were no longer miners they still did eat like them.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

Yes a lot of Northern and middle England is also mining based, and although my inlaws were no longer miners they still did eat like them.

Wales, if I am not mistaken, also has (or had) mines?
There are stories about mining (including culinary ones) that always move me. My mum still tells me about my grandfather's hard work.

 

[Windigo]

Just heard that my GP put me on the list for the coming Astrazeneca vaccines next month, so I am a lucky gal. Lucky to be one of the first to get it, less lucky with the conditions that make me a priority for vaccination
Feels like a relief to know I'll soon be vaccinated and safer.

 

[Windigo]

Wales, if I am not mistaken, also has (or had) mines?
There are stories about mining (including culinary ones) that always move me. My mum still tells me about my grandfather's hard work.

I wouldn't know, I don't know much about Wales specifically. Mining was a very dangerous and intriguing profession to tell stories about indeed.

 

[TastyReuben]

School lunches, oh the memories. Instant mashed potatoes served up with an ice cream scoop...watery room temperature corn niblets...rectangular pizza about the size of a pocket paperback book...and a little carton of chocolate milk.

Dinner/Lunch/Supper - the current convention where I live is to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and we did have lunch ladies at school when I was a kid).

For my parents' generation, it was breakfast, dinner, supper, with dinner being the big meal, served midday. My family were all laborers (farmers, mostly) and the midday meal was the big meal, and the evening meal was to just something smaller.

When work moved from the farm to the factory, the midday meal got smaller, because you had to pack it and maybe you had just 30 minutes to eat it, so the big meal shifted to the evening, and dinner replaced supper, and lunch replaced dinner.

Our eating habits through the week are a small, cold breakfast (usually cereal), a small, cold or hot lunch (like a sandwich or a slice of pizza), and a main/big meal in the evening. Weekends, it's a big, hot breakfast, a very light, cold lunch (more of a snack, just cheese and crackers), and the third meal can go either way, though it's usually something cooked.

Between-meal snacks are usually something like toast or a pastry between breakfast and lunch, a piece of fruit between lunch and supper, and a proper dessert after supper.

My parents staunchly use breakfast, dinner, and supper. If you mix those up when talking to my dad, he won't acknowledge you. I, being the bridge-builder that I am, compromise by saying breakfast, lunch, and supper.

My nieces all laugh at me for saying supper. To them, it has nothing to do with meal size, it just sounds like an old-fashioned term that Grandpa Simpson would say.

 

[mjd]

Honestly, I never know when to use the words dinner or supper. I used to think dinner is the big meal you have at the end of the day, and supper is a lighter meal you eat before going to bed (something like cookies or bread with a glass of milk). And that tea as a meal always refers to the 5 o'clock tea.

The portuguese are very clear about their meals: the meal around noon/1PM is "almoço", the mid afternoon or mid morning snack is "lanche", the meal after 6PM is "jantar", if you eat something after dinner and before going to bed that is "ceia", and the names are not interchangeable in any way.

In the US, the Midwest (or not, we'll have to ask TastyReuben), the "meal" you call "ceia" is called a "midnight snack" (usually something light and after dinner, but not necessarily at midnight).

I've never understood the difference between dinner and supper. I just know that my family called it "dinner" (around 5-6pm) and I never heard the word "supper" until I made a friend in the South.

 

[Windigo]

Does anyone here have ' coffee' as a set snack time? Here in NL we have ' coffee hour' at generally 11 in the morning when everyone has a generally sweet snack and a coffee or tea. The snack is often cookies, cake or pastries.

 

[LissaC]

Does anyone here have ' coffee' as a set snack time? Here in NL we have ' coffee hour' at generally 11 in the morning when everyone has a generally sweet snack and a coffee or tea. The snack is often cookies, cake or pastries.

Nope, not here.

Funny story about coffee: Portuguese coffee is closer to the Italian espresso, a small, very strong cup of coffee.

Apparently American coffee is not as strong as is usually served in big mugs.

Couple years ago, one of our American colleagues came here and went to get coffee from one of the machines in the office. All our coffee machines give out an espresso, the small, strong coffee. He wasn't satisfied with the amount of coffee that came out of the machine so he filled one big mug with espresso coffees. Which he fully drank, which made him feel very bad. He was shacking and trembling and unable to focus, and someone had to drive him back to his hotel and stay with him for the rest of the day

 

[TastyReuben]

Does anyone here have ' coffee' as a set snack time? Here in NL we have ' coffee hour' at generally 11 in the morning when everyone has a generally sweet snack and a coffee or tea. The snack is often cookies, cake or pastries.

That's similar to what our British friends refer to as "Elevenses," though I don't know if that gets used all that much now.

Where I live, we just call that a "coffee break," and that's what I have, though it's usually closer to 10AM - my mid-morning snack.

When I was attending German language classes, which went from 9AM-1PM on Saturdays, we always stopped at 11AM for "Kaffee und Kuchen" - coffee and cake - yes, a similar thing there as well.

 

[Duck59]

Tea and coffee drinking in Ethiopia and Eritrea needs a bit of practice before you know all of the tricks. For example, a macchiato there is milkier than what you'd get in Europe. Tea comes in a small tumbler, without milk but with a (usually thick) slice of lemon. You will generally get your tea or coffee laden with sugar unless you specifically ask for no sugar. I think the first two Tigrigna phrases I learnt were "without meat" and "without sugar."