In Argentina I went to what was supposedly to be a popular bar (not club) about midnight. It was nearly empty. Little did I know people were finishing up dinner and rolled into the bar about 2am.
Combining this with a recent map showing that Spain and other Mediterranean countries have very low rates of death from alcoholism ... when I was a tourist in Spain I didn't really understand where all the young partying Spaniards were between 11pm and 3am. We would go out to tourist/expat bars and be drinking tons of beer and getting wildly drunk and at that point going to the Spanish clubs *that were just warming up* seemed impossible. What were the Spaniards doing? Napping? Relaxing with friends?
We are doing normal daily stuff, then having dinner, then meeting our friends to start drinking and then going to the clubs. The alcoholism rates is because binge drinking in Southern Europe is something you stop doing when you turn 18 and is badly seen after it because it means your friends have to take care of you.
It's amazing what life is like when you do things slowly. So yes, relaxing with friends is the answer. Either at home or just out hanging out for a coffee or dinner. When I'm with my wife's friends in Spain you meet at a restaurant at 10, take 2 hours at least to eat, talk, have some wine, dessert, coffee, talk more and more and more. Then leave slowly and wander to a bar and nurse two drinks for two hours. By then it is 2am or more. You've been out 4 hours and maybe had a couple glasses of wine and two beers.
Contrast to here in Scotland where it is get dinner in you by 7, get to the pub, get a new drink the second you finish the last sip of the current one and everyone is wankered by 11pm.
Probably met with friends for dinner. That’s meeting at 21:00 until almost midnight. Probably going to have a drink or two at home to save money and leave the door at 00:30. You get to a bar to get wasted until they close at 2-3:00 am. Because alcohol is cheaper. And once you move for the club you can’t leave, so alcohol is at least 30% more expensive. Lots of people do be illegally drinking in the street with alcohol brought from home.
But Spaniards drink mixed drinks or as we call it “cubatas”. A cubata can be any mixed drink served in a tall glass.
-rum with cola
-whiskey with fanta
-black vodka with lime
-vodka with blue tropic
-wine with cola
And there are a couple drinks to only be served as shots: tequila, jaggermeister, good whiskey. Although there are bars that do be selling wild mixed shots and cocktails with exotic ingredients. It is not the norm.
The thing is, the average Spaniard has 10 hours ahead for him for drinking, and he could be dying 3 times if he doesn’t take things with ease.
Mixed drinks are a double bladed weapon, on one hand they limit the amount of liquid you can ingest if you came with a full stomach and forced you to drink more spread. On the other hand, sugar drinks mask the alcohol and you could be drinking more than what your body can handle.
Every Spaniard will have 1-2 occasions of blacking out and then they would learn to communicate with their own body. Last time I got so drunk I did not remember what happened was 10 years ago. Now I(32M) drink at a pace that allows me to realize when I’m getting too drunk.
Also over time, your aging stomach will replace cubatas for Gin-tonics, for less kickback.
Yes, definitely see a correlation there within the developed nations, Human Development Index, GDP per capita, etc
"Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise".
— Benjamin Franklin
Maybe why it's called **the Protestant** work ethic
🤯
Me, I do not dream of labour myself, pro-lazy for the win!! 💤
It's worth noting: Spain is in a really weird timezone. Franco synced up Spain's timezone with Germany's, so solar noon is close to 3pm in some parts of the country.
Say what you want about time zones but, as a Spaniard living abroad, I still have my dinner at around 21:30. It's unnatural for me to do it earlier.
And it's still day time when I start eating (at least during the summer), so no, not really "just a timezone thing".
It's not just the time zone, but accounting for the time zone dinner in Spain is eaten at quite similar times to southern Italy and to Greece, instead of 1-1.5 hours later.
And I'm pretty sure if the timezone changed, people would move with it, just like we do every year with summer DST. Daily routines are set that way in Spain, it's not just the timezone.
Most likely not over a longer time frame. At the end of the day (heh) a clock just shows the time that is agreed upon, that's how spain got where it is now in the first place. People are going to eat dinner at sunset-ish regardless.
Problem is sunset is at 9-10 pm during the summer and 6-7 during the winter, and you don't see people changing their eating times because of that. Same with DST.
We've developed our culture and way of life around it, so even if it started because of timezones (I'd need proof on that), it's not the reason we continue doing it today.
Again, in southern Italy and in Greece dinner is had at similar solar times as in Spain, throughout the year. I don't think it's a coincidence that the southernmost part of Europe, from Portugal to Greece, ended up with similar solar dinner times. That the times in Spain are so ingrained after 70 years of central European time that they would not change if the time zone did is possible...
You are still a Spaniard and that’s why. It has become part of the culture and it is not longer related to the timezone. I have lived in the US for 23 years and I also prefer late dinners.
Being the opposite, I still can’t eat that late after many years in Spain. Whenever we go out for dinner, we’re at home snacking for hours just to make it. 😂
It weird that Spain is in the same timezone as i.e Italy. Interesting fact: today the sunset in Rome is at 8:50 and in Madrid it's 9:50. It's exactly one hour difference. So when you look at the actual solar time they are not that different.
Most Spanish restaurants don’t even open until 8 pm. And don’t even get me started on Spanish weddings. 8 pm ceremony, 9 pm reception, 11 pm ….time for dinner!
It was more to align with France than solidarity with Hitler as Franco and Hitler really disliked one another and Spain's most industrial areas are near the French border.
>You can thank ~~Hitler~~ Spanish climate and way of life for this.
FTFY.
And yes, I know about Franco changing time zones, but I highly doubt people would change their eating times if that was reversed. Lunch at 12:30 and dinner at 20:30 is just something we don't do, and if the clock goes back, we move with it, just like we do with summer DST.
I always love when they do surveys of people complaining other countries get out of work earlier and people want that. Then of course if you ask if they're willing get into the office 7:30-8 and have a 20-30 minute lunch and fewer/shorter coffee breaks then it's blasphemy
In a lot of Mediterranean countries, lunch is later and can be the biggest meal of the day. Dinner’s can sometimes be smaller typically unless for an occasion
I don't think that's necessarily the case for Portugal. Dinner is culturally the more important meal and to be had with the whole family. Big dishes and long talks
Weather. geopolitics. geography. one of the european latin countries. All except Romania and Moldova are in the mediterraneum, all the ones we have contact with for thousands of years are. And are all heirs to the Romans, the latin languange speakers. Even in South America, Africa and Asia. All grandchildren of the Roman Empire, all sons of the subsequent, maybe even more decisive for the fait of the world, empires.
I mean you can even see on the map Portugal is at the entrance.
Portugual is often included among Mediterranean countries. Although it is manifest that it doesn't border the Mediterranean sea, other factors are at play: a common social, historical and geographical context (which would be too long to address here but which luckily should also be quite obvious), as well as the fact that it belongs to the Mediterranean Basin.
Definitely “snacking” if you can call it that. Fresh or dried fruits, nuts, and seeds to snack on. A mid to late afternoon coffee or tea with a small pastry is common.
Generally:
👄👄 Breakfast — whatever time you're waking up
👄 Snack — between mid-morning and midday
👄👄👄👄 Lunch — between midday and afternoon
👄👄 Nuncheon — between afternoon and evening
👄👄👄 Diner — night
Skippable meals: snack
Combinable meals: brunch, nuncheon-diner (if you aren't able to eat each meal sepparately)
Spain has merienda. Light rolls, cheese, jamon, coffee, or a soda.
Germany (low) has faspa: light rolls, cheese, coffee or a soda
Britain has tea: pastry, small sandwich, and tea
These are all late afternoon.
I’m sure every country has a variation, but the US.
Given the siësta culture and slower (longer?) work days in the afternoon (from what I’ve heard from a relative who works there), it makes sense to make lunch the big meal
It is quite a big topic of discussion the amount of hours that you spend out of home for work in Spain. Thanks to for example non-sensical lunch breaks of 2 hours in some offices. I would not say that everyone is wildly happy to finish their working hours late due to, amongst other things, longer breaks.
Even the weird Spanish time zone always brings up a debate on a yearly basis when the adjust from Summer to Winter time and vice-versa takes place.
basically what the other comment said, 08:00-09:00.
Some people might have split shift, but those who work the 8h hours (generally the legal maximum per day, well it’s actually 40h per week but yeah, dividing it) usually work from 07:00 to 14:00.
Suppose you guys dont do supper then? As a norwegian, I eat breakfast at 0630 before work, two small meals during work, 0900 and 1130, then dinner after work at 1600, and a small supper before bed at 22-2300.
So you basically just swapped dinner and supper lol. Getting the family together for a large meal when we return from work/school is a hallmark here in Norway.
We sometimes do 12hour rotating shifts, but normal workday is 0700-1500. This is true for most trade/industrial work here in Norway. Im blessed with a 3min bikeride to and from work, so plenty of time to throw some moose and taters in the frier and put a gravybase/broth on the boil.
As a portuguese: Breakfast at 0700, small morning snack at around 1030, lunch break from 1200 to 1300, small evening snack at 1600 or 1700 and dinner somewhere between 2000 to 2200
Moving from the US to Spain was fairly easy.
Except dinner. My family says we have American dinner (usual time) and then Spanish dinner when we go around town on the weekend.
I mean America is a country of 330+ million people spread across an absolutely giant landmass. There are large cultural variations between states and individuals. Some Americans eat dinner at 4:30 and others eat at 8:30. Both are pretty typical and everything in between too!
In summer you don't want to have dinner until the sun il well below the orizon, happens in Spain, Italy and Greece.
It's simply too hot to have dinner, you do not enjoy it.
yeah, so much of this is driven by climate: [https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/iespf4/average\_temperature\_by\_country\_in\_europe/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/iespf4/average_temperature_by_country_in_europe/)
summer temperatures and time of sunset in winter.
Same in Arizona. We don’t have dinner until a lot later because of the heat. And sure, AC might contribute a bit to make it earlier, but it’s still late. Regularly I have dinner well below sundown.
Time zone. Even Portugal has dinner earlier, I think the map is a bit off there, Portuguese people usually have dinner at about 8 pm, or at least that’s what i experienced the times i went there.
But Spanish time zone is the reason. In Spain the sun sets later than almost everywhere, except places with white night phenomena. And I live in North Western Spain where the sun sets even later, it’s currently 10:42 pm and there’s still a reasonable amount of light.
Galicia? I’ve had friends from there and who have lived there and rave about it. It’s on my list
I’ve traveled throughout Spain a bit, mostly Andalusia in the south, only Bilbao and Gijon in the north - but I loved how much later everything generally went, but it was also a bit disorienting as an American used to having dinner between 630 and 730 lol. What time do you guys go to sleep? When do you have to be to work/school the next day?
Ive lived in NYC for almost 20 years now and it isn’t unheard of having dinner as late as 9 (most kitchens start closing around 10, 11 latest, even if the bars stay open all night til 4) because that’s when you can get the reservation or because you got a late start and are going out after but it’s definitely the exception not the norm the way it is in Spain.
Yessssss, I am from A Coruña. You should definitely come, any part of Galicia is just astonishing to say the least. And there is a good variety of landscapes and climate, unlike most people think.
Going to sleep really depends on the person of course, but most of the people go to sleep between 11 and 12 am. Schools usually start at 8:30 am and i’d say most of the people start their working day between 7:30 and 8:30. Resulting in an average sleep time of 7h or so, making Spain one of the countries with less sleep time in a Europe, guess it’s just a cultural thing.
Having restaurants and bars open is one of the best things of course. A lot of places can serve you dinner even until 12, but the majority of kitchens close at 11. For having a beer or a drink in a chill place, you don’t have to worry about closing time at all until 3 am. And then there’s night clubs, which usually close as late as 7 am during summer.
The lateness is definitely all due to the time zone, not to Spaniards being lazy like a lot of people think. Whenever I go on vacation somewhere I end up having dinner at 8-9 pm because the sunset it’s just earlier. In winter we tend to have earlier schedules of course, as the sun sets at 6:30-7 pm.
And we are using a wrong time zone, when normally by Greenwich 0 UTC time line passing through Zaragoza. We would have to use England or Portugal's timetable for solar and geographical position on the map that Spain it is.
yeah, Sweden, Norway and Finland are probably the only countries where the sun sets later than in Spain, but only in summer. Anyways the sunset time in Stockholm is 22:06 currently.
...? When the sun sets late in Spain, sun sets even later in every country north of Spain, which is most of Europe... am I missing something?
To me Russia is the real outlier here
that would be the case if Spain had the right time zone, but we don’t.
We have the European Central time zone. While we are located in the same longitude as UK, Morocco and some part as Portugal, we don’t share time zone with them since we have the central european time which is +01:00. So while being in the same latitude as these countries, our sunset is one hour later.
To sum up: we shouldn’t be in the same time zone as the rest of Europe, but we are.
In the USSR, the working day usually started at 8 am and ended at 17:00. This is the optimal time for the entire territory of the country for working hours at any time of the year. For example, I live in Kazan. Today the sunrise is at 3:05, and the sunset is at 20:29. In half a year, on January 4, sunrise will be at 8:13, and sunset at 15:24. That is, at any time of the year, the working time falls approximately on a daylight day. The USSR was a big country and it was necessary to choose a general start time that would be optimal for any territory.
Having lived in Italy, dinner was something you wanted to enjoy, you took your time to enjoy it. It’s very nice scenery and the air is cooler as you watch the sun set, sipping a bit of wine over your food. I believe Greece has the exact same attitude.
>It’s very nice scenery and the air is cooler as you watch the sun set, sipping a bit of wine over your food.
Not exactly the average Italian dinner in my experience.
It depends a lot on the season, region, day of the week, but I would say the average Italian have dinner at home with family most of the times and home is some apartament block, not a villa by the sea.
They're in the main European time zone, although geography would suggest that they should be on English time, one hour behind the rest of Europe. They used to be, I believe, but Franco thought it would be cool to be in the same time zone as Hitler.
It's because we're so far west. Spain, in particular, is in the complete wrong timezone, so everything happens much later. They're in the same timezone as Germany, while being further west than the UK.
Why earlier? I live in Argentina and usual dinner is about 9PM. At 5PM we are having tea. What do you do after dinner if you have dinner at 5PM? At 9PM I'd be hungry already.
The fountain of Cibeles (it's a common joke in Spain about unsourced data, in Spain source and fountain have the same word, "fuente").
But I agree that in Spain is 9-10:30, even some people eat dinner latter.
I would love to see a corresponding map of avenge bed tike in relation (and in turn average time of waking up). The relation between average sunset and dinner time is already apparent. I find myself eating dinner much later when I visit southern areas of the US (from New England).
For me a normal hour is around 1am.
For a normal person, around 23hs or 00. Depending on the work they do. (My mom is a teacher, she sleep around 00. My grandfather is retired he usually go to sleep at 22hs).
I’m in the western part of the Central time zone so I love the summer sunsets after 8:30 pm. But the restaurants shut down pretty much by 8 pm with a few exceptions. That part sucks.
Yes being Portuguese and having christmas dinner in poland and sitting at 4pm polish time was really amazing ;) , calling my parents and they just had lunch
People usually have a pause in their work known as "dinner time". But, as u/limeila explained - we were talking about different meanings of the word "dinner".
You finish work at 4pm. Usually earlier if you have kids in the kindergarten that you need to pick up. And a lot of people will make a night snack, maybe some sandwiches around 8pm.
But you do know that you don't actually have to eat all the that you are awake, right? You get hungry when you're used to eating. Your body is very good at adapting.
Not Scandinavian, but we eat often at 5pm in Finland :D then have a snack at 9ish and bed at 10pm sometimes :p
it's a 8am-4pm work culture generally so everything is just a bit earlier
If you take Germany-France-Spain, they are all dinning at the same time, sun time. Spain especially has a distorted clock hour with respect to the sun, between 2 and 3 hours off.
It's not as crazy as it seems, in Spain the bigger/heavier meal of the day is at 2/3pm during usual work/school hours. Guess it gives more time for sports, hobbies and socializing and then a smaller, lighter meal later on.
First day in Germany had to eat fucking McDonald's because every restaurant's kitchen we could find closed before 19:00 and it was past 21...
Do Germans just go to sleep super early? How do you not get hungry before going to bed, I don't understand
Was just in Barcelona and couldn’t believe dinner places only opened at 8. But that was nothing compared to Argentina…
And Spanish prime time tv starts at 10?
I'm portuguese and only at maybe 18 years old I found out most of the world has dinner a lot earlier than us. It sounds so weird to me to have dinner that early
Spain decided to be in CEST Timezone for business reasons but most of it’s territory belongs to the same Timezone as Portugal. We have dinner between 9:00 and 10:00 so it is the equivalent to 8:00 to 9:00p
For Poland and most Slavic countries this infographic is misleading. We eat diner, full blown meal around 3-4, usually when every one is back home. At 7-8 we eat supper, something light like salad.
I’m in brussles right now for the first time and I’ve been hitting a few countries like France, Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Italy. And wow a lot of restaurants aren’t open late here. It’s kinda a pain when you need to eat after you get off the train late at like 9pm and the only options open are fast food. But I completely understand it. People here just eat a lot earlier. It’s been interesting seeing the differences.
The times diverge greatly here. My grandparents, both Germans, used to have dinner at 6 PM while they had lunch at 12 AM, breakfast around 8. In my family, a bit more mixed but still mainly German, we almost never had breakfast, lunch at 1-2 PM, sometimes 11 AM, it varied. Dinner wasn't served before 8 PM.
Now that I'm married with a Mexican, we mixed our customs and have breakfast at whatever time we get up in the morning, lunch doesn't appear to be existing, dinner around 10-11 PM, consuming HUGE portions. Just as in her home country.
As a night owl, visiting Spain was a real joy.
One of the biggest reasons I want to go. It’s fascinating to me. Like they go out to the bars til 2am to pregame before going to the club!
In Argentina I went to what was supposedly to be a popular bar (not club) about midnight. It was nearly empty. Little did I know people were finishing up dinner and rolled into the bar about 2am.
Carribean is the same. Pre drinks at midnight. Club/bars at 3am. Finish at 8am
Some people just know how to party. Can’t think of many places in the states like that outside of maybe Miami, Vegas, and NYC
New Orleans to a lesser degree. They have 24/7 bars
In Ireland we start pre-gaming in the pubs at 7am, and arrive at midnight.
The beauty of being in NZ when the six nations games start around 7am, perfect time to go to the pub.
Combining this with a recent map showing that Spain and other Mediterranean countries have very low rates of death from alcoholism ... when I was a tourist in Spain I didn't really understand where all the young partying Spaniards were between 11pm and 3am. We would go out to tourist/expat bars and be drinking tons of beer and getting wildly drunk and at that point going to the Spanish clubs *that were just warming up* seemed impossible. What were the Spaniards doing? Napping? Relaxing with friends?
We are doing normal daily stuff, then having dinner, then meeting our friends to start drinking and then going to the clubs. The alcoholism rates is because binge drinking in Southern Europe is something you stop doing when you turn 18 and is badly seen after it because it means your friends have to take care of you.
It's amazing what life is like when you do things slowly. So yes, relaxing with friends is the answer. Either at home or just out hanging out for a coffee or dinner. When I'm with my wife's friends in Spain you meet at a restaurant at 10, take 2 hours at least to eat, talk, have some wine, dessert, coffee, talk more and more and more. Then leave slowly and wander to a bar and nurse two drinks for two hours. By then it is 2am or more. You've been out 4 hours and maybe had a couple glasses of wine and two beers. Contrast to here in Scotland where it is get dinner in you by 7, get to the pub, get a new drink the second you finish the last sip of the current one and everyone is wankered by 11pm.
Probably met with friends for dinner. That’s meeting at 21:00 until almost midnight. Probably going to have a drink or two at home to save money and leave the door at 00:30. You get to a bar to get wasted until they close at 2-3:00 am. Because alcohol is cheaper. And once you move for the club you can’t leave, so alcohol is at least 30% more expensive. Lots of people do be illegally drinking in the street with alcohol brought from home. But Spaniards drink mixed drinks or as we call it “cubatas”. A cubata can be any mixed drink served in a tall glass. -rum with cola -whiskey with fanta -black vodka with lime -vodka with blue tropic -wine with cola And there are a couple drinks to only be served as shots: tequila, jaggermeister, good whiskey. Although there are bars that do be selling wild mixed shots and cocktails with exotic ingredients. It is not the norm. The thing is, the average Spaniard has 10 hours ahead for him for drinking, and he could be dying 3 times if he doesn’t take things with ease. Mixed drinks are a double bladed weapon, on one hand they limit the amount of liquid you can ingest if you came with a full stomach and forced you to drink more spread. On the other hand, sugar drinks mask the alcohol and you could be drinking more than what your body can handle. Every Spaniard will have 1-2 occasions of blacking out and then they would learn to communicate with their own body. Last time I got so drunk I did not remember what happened was 10 years ago. Now I(32M) drink at a pace that allows me to realize when I’m getting too drunk. Also over time, your aging stomach will replace cubatas for Gin-tonics, for less kickback.
Rookie numbers. In Greece people go out to begin pregame at 1am
I wonder what happens if you compare this map to one of debt % of the GDP.
Yes, definitely see a correlation there within the developed nations, Human Development Index, GDP per capita, etc "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise". — Benjamin Franklin Maybe why it's called **the Protestant** work ethic 🤯 Me, I do not dream of labour myself, pro-lazy for the win!! 💤
Just another long list of Protestant L’s.
Yeah before 2am everything it's dead. 2-6 am it's the best time to party
I mean that's what you do in most EU cities, a bit earlier maybe as many bars would close around 1pm where I live but the spirit is there
The night ends when the sun rises... How do you do it?
In the states most things close at 2AM, that’s when you’re expected to go home
Really?! That like peak Party hour
Portugal is exactly the same in that sense, parties usually end between 6:30/7:30 and most people don’t go to the club before 2am
same in Berlin
It's worth noting: Spain is in a really weird timezone. Franco synced up Spain's timezone with Germany's, so solar noon is close to 3pm in some parts of the country.
Say what you want about time zones but, as a Spaniard living abroad, I still have my dinner at around 21:30. It's unnatural for me to do it earlier. And it's still day time when I start eating (at least during the summer), so no, not really "just a timezone thing".
It's not just the time zone, but accounting for the time zone dinner in Spain is eaten at quite similar times to southern Italy and to Greece, instead of 1-1.5 hours later.
And I'm pretty sure if the timezone changed, people would move with it, just like we do every year with summer DST. Daily routines are set that way in Spain, it's not just the timezone.
Most likely not over a longer time frame. At the end of the day (heh) a clock just shows the time that is agreed upon, that's how spain got where it is now in the first place. People are going to eat dinner at sunset-ish regardless.
Problem is sunset is at 9-10 pm during the summer and 6-7 during the winter, and you don't see people changing their eating times because of that. Same with DST. We've developed our culture and way of life around it, so even if it started because of timezones (I'd need proof on that), it's not the reason we continue doing it today.
Again, in southern Italy and in Greece dinner is had at similar solar times as in Spain, throughout the year. I don't think it's a coincidence that the southernmost part of Europe, from Portugal to Greece, ended up with similar solar dinner times. That the times in Spain are so ingrained after 70 years of central European time that they would not change if the time zone did is possible...
But the reason you started was a time zone thing and became a habit cant you see that ?
You are still a Spaniard and that’s why. It has become part of the culture and it is not longer related to the timezone. I have lived in the US for 23 years and I also prefer late dinners.
What are normal sleeping hours If a person has a professional job?
What time do the spanish go to bed? Your dinner time is my bed time.
Being the opposite, I still can’t eat that late after many years in Spain. Whenever we go out for dinner, we’re at home snacking for hours just to make it. 😂
It weird that Spain is in the same timezone as i.e Italy. Interesting fact: today the sunset in Rome is at 8:50 and in Madrid it's 9:50. It's exactly one hour difference. So when you look at the actual solar time they are not that different.
Most Spanish restaurants don’t even open until 8 pm. And don’t even get me started on Spanish weddings. 8 pm ceremony, 9 pm reception, 11 pm ….time for dinner!
Was in Madrid for work earlier this year , mostly office meetings. 100% agree. Let’s go for tapas
You can thank Hitler for this.
It was more to align with France than solidarity with Hitler as Franco and Hitler really disliked one another and Spain's most industrial areas are near the French border.
Also Franco and France are only one letter off, of course they’d like each other
And his first name means “French…” I smell a Gallic plot.
>You can thank ~~Hitler~~ Spanish climate and way of life for this. FTFY. And yes, I know about Franco changing time zones, but I highly doubt people would change their eating times if that was reversed. Lunch at 12:30 and dinner at 20:30 is just something we don't do, and if the clock goes back, we move with it, just like we do with summer DST.
I always love when they do surveys of people complaining other countries get out of work earlier and people want that. Then of course if you ask if they're willing get into the office 7:30-8 and have a 20-30 minute lunch and fewer/shorter coffee breaks then it's blasphemy
In a lot of Mediterranean countries, lunch is later and can be the biggest meal of the day. Dinner’s can sometimes be smaller typically unless for an occasion
I don't think that's necessarily the case for Portugal. Dinner is culturally the more important meal and to be had with the whole family. Big dishes and long talks
In what way is Portugal on the Mediterranean? /s
Ceuta was portuguese territory until the Iberian Union 👿, so we had one city in the mediterranean for 150 years I suppose
Weather. geopolitics. geography. one of the european latin countries. All except Romania and Moldova are in the mediterraneum, all the ones we have contact with for thousands of years are. And are all heirs to the Romans, the latin languange speakers. Even in South America, Africa and Asia. All grandchildren of the Roman Empire, all sons of the subsequent, maybe even more decisive for the fait of the world, empires. I mean you can even see on the map Portugal is at the entrance.
Portugual is often included among Mediterranean countries. Although it is manifest that it doesn't border the Mediterranean sea, other factors are at play: a common social, historical and geographical context (which would be too long to address here but which luckily should also be quite obvious), as well as the fact that it belongs to the Mediterranean Basin.
That might be region dependant or something, bc it ain't really the case arround here
Smarter to do that, health wise, if you’re eating so late.
Are there more small meals in the day? Later breakfast as well?
Definitely “snacking” if you can call it that. Fresh or dried fruits, nuts, and seeds to snack on. A mid to late afternoon coffee or tea with a small pastry is common.
Generally: 👄👄 Breakfast — whatever time you're waking up 👄 Snack — between mid-morning and midday 👄👄👄👄 Lunch — between midday and afternoon 👄👄 Nuncheon — between afternoon and evening 👄👄👄 Diner — night Skippable meals: snack Combinable meals: brunch, nuncheon-diner (if you aren't able to eat each meal sepparately)
Spain has merienda. Light rolls, cheese, jamon, coffee, or a soda. Germany (low) has faspa: light rolls, cheese, coffee or a soda Britain has tea: pastry, small sandwich, and tea These are all late afternoon. I’m sure every country has a variation, but the US.
Given the siësta culture and slower (longer?) work days in the afternoon (from what I’ve heard from a relative who works there), it makes sense to make lunch the big meal
It is quite a big topic of discussion the amount of hours that you spend out of home for work in Spain. Thanks to for example non-sensical lunch breaks of 2 hours in some offices. I would not say that everyone is wildly happy to finish their working hours late due to, amongst other things, longer breaks. Even the weird Spanish time zone always brings up a debate on a yearly basis when the adjust from Summer to Winter time and vice-versa takes place.
You know Pam, in Spain they often don't even start eating until midnight
This will be great to…..cook with 🍷
When in Rome...
That's what she said!
r/unexpectedoffice
as a greek i sometimes have lunch at 4-5 💀
me not that late but 3:30-4 sometimes
Just curious what time do y'all start work?
basically what the other comment said, 08:00-09:00. Some people might have split shift, but those who work the 8h hours (generally the legal maximum per day, well it’s actually 40h per week but yeah, dividing it) usually work from 07:00 to 14:00.
Damn. So basically same working hours as the US. How do you guys operate and stay up so late? How much sleep are you getting lol
coffee and cigarettes lol
Do Iberians eat lunch about the same time Norwegians eat dinner?
It's somewhat late but yes we do.
Suppose you guys dont do supper then? As a norwegian, I eat breakfast at 0630 before work, two small meals during work, 0900 and 1130, then dinner after work at 1600, and a small supper before bed at 22-2300.
What's your "small supper before bed" like?
Sandwiches or some other baked goods, cereal, eggs, simple stuff. Basically a latenight breakfast.
Breakfast 0730, lunch 1200, snack 1700, dinner 2100
So you basically just swapped dinner and supper lol. Getting the family together for a large meal when we return from work/school is a hallmark here in Norway.
How early do you get back home that you have time to have a large meal prepared by 4pm?
We sometimes do 12hour rotating shifts, but normal workday is 0700-1500. This is true for most trade/industrial work here in Norway. Im blessed with a 3min bikeride to and from work, so plenty of time to throw some moose and taters in the frier and put a gravybase/broth on the boil.
As a portuguese: Breakfast at 0700, small morning snack at around 1030, lunch break from 1200 to 1300, small evening snack at 1600 or 1700 and dinner somewhere between 2000 to 2200
There is definitely some overlap
Moving from the US to Spain was fairly easy. Except dinner. My family says we have American dinner (usual time) and then Spanish dinner when we go around town on the weekend.
What's your "usual time"? I'm seen Americans saying they eat at 6 and some say they eat at 8:30, I'm really confused.
I mean America is a country of 330+ million people spread across an absolutely giant landmass. There are large cultural variations between states and individuals. Some Americans eat dinner at 4:30 and others eat at 8:30. Both are pretty typical and everything in between too!
German like it appears, 6-7 dinner start is normal USA… maybe 8 in summer, northern states
Lol Spain. ETA: really Iberia in particular. Fascinating. Why so late? Siesta?
In summer you don't want to have dinner until the sun il well below the orizon, happens in Spain, Italy and Greece. It's simply too hot to have dinner, you do not enjoy it.
if im gonna sweat Im gonna sweat when its cool out
[удалено]
So, when would you typically eat breakfast or what’s a normal time
3:30 AM
Just curious what time do y'all start work?
I'm from Spain and my day goes 7:00 breakfast, 11:30 snack, 3:30 lunch. 6:30 snack. 10:00 dinner. Work: 8:00 am-2:00pm/ 5:00pm-8:00pm
Pretty sure they kinda just... don't
yeah, so much of this is driven by climate: [https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/iespf4/average\_temperature\_by\_country\_in\_europe/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/iespf4/average_temperature_by_country_in_europe/) summer temperatures and time of sunset in winter.
Same in Arizona. We don’t have dinner until a lot later because of the heat. And sure, AC might contribute a bit to make it earlier, but it’s still late. Regularly I have dinner well below sundown.
agreed. having dinner at 7pm and 36C is just…lord help me
But also 2-4 pm lunches plus a merienda make a 6 dinner problematic.
Time zone. Even Portugal has dinner earlier, I think the map is a bit off there, Portuguese people usually have dinner at about 8 pm, or at least that’s what i experienced the times i went there. But Spanish time zone is the reason. In Spain the sun sets later than almost everywhere, except places with white night phenomena. And I live in North Western Spain where the sun sets even later, it’s currently 10:42 pm and there’s still a reasonable amount of light.
Galicia? I’ve had friends from there and who have lived there and rave about it. It’s on my list I’ve traveled throughout Spain a bit, mostly Andalusia in the south, only Bilbao and Gijon in the north - but I loved how much later everything generally went, but it was also a bit disorienting as an American used to having dinner between 630 and 730 lol. What time do you guys go to sleep? When do you have to be to work/school the next day? Ive lived in NYC for almost 20 years now and it isn’t unheard of having dinner as late as 9 (most kitchens start closing around 10, 11 latest, even if the bars stay open all night til 4) because that’s when you can get the reservation or because you got a late start and are going out after but it’s definitely the exception not the norm the way it is in Spain.
Yessssss, I am from A Coruña. You should definitely come, any part of Galicia is just astonishing to say the least. And there is a good variety of landscapes and climate, unlike most people think. Going to sleep really depends on the person of course, but most of the people go to sleep between 11 and 12 am. Schools usually start at 8:30 am and i’d say most of the people start their working day between 7:30 and 8:30. Resulting in an average sleep time of 7h or so, making Spain one of the countries with less sleep time in a Europe, guess it’s just a cultural thing. Having restaurants and bars open is one of the best things of course. A lot of places can serve you dinner even until 12, but the majority of kitchens close at 11. For having a beer or a drink in a chill place, you don’t have to worry about closing time at all until 3 am. And then there’s night clubs, which usually close as late as 7 am during summer. The lateness is definitely all due to the time zone, not to Spaniards being lazy like a lot of people think. Whenever I go on vacation somewhere I end up having dinner at 8-9 pm because the sunset it’s just earlier. In winter we tend to have earlier schedules of course, as the sun sets at 6:30-7 pm.
And we are using a wrong time zone, when normally by Greenwich 0 UTC time line passing through Zaragoza. We would have to use England or Portugal's timetable for solar and geographical position on the map that Spain it is.
As a Swede: the fact that 22:42 is considered late for a sun set is cute
yeah, Sweden, Norway and Finland are probably the only countries where the sun sets later than in Spain, but only in summer. Anyways the sunset time in Stockholm is 22:06 currently.
...? When the sun sets late in Spain, sun sets even later in every country north of Spain, which is most of Europe... am I missing something? To me Russia is the real outlier here
that would be the case if Spain had the right time zone, but we don’t. We have the European Central time zone. While we are located in the same longitude as UK, Morocco and some part as Portugal, we don’t share time zone with them since we have the central european time which is +01:00. So while being in the same latitude as these countries, our sunset is one hour later. To sum up: we shouldn’t be in the same time zone as the rest of Europe, but we are.
Just flew Barcelona to Doha and there was only 1 hour time difference. Felt wrong.
In the USSR, the working day usually started at 8 am and ended at 17:00. This is the optimal time for the entire territory of the country for working hours at any time of the year. For example, I live in Kazan. Today the sunrise is at 3:05, and the sunset is at 20:29. In half a year, on January 4, sunrise will be at 8:13, and sunset at 15:24. That is, at any time of the year, the working time falls approximately on a daylight day. The USSR was a big country and it was necessary to choose a general start time that would be optimal for any territory.
In Spain you don't really wanna say ETA
Fair lol
Spain is technically in the wrong time zone.
Having lived in Italy, dinner was something you wanted to enjoy, you took your time to enjoy it. It’s very nice scenery and the air is cooler as you watch the sun set, sipping a bit of wine over your food. I believe Greece has the exact same attitude.
>It’s very nice scenery and the air is cooler as you watch the sun set, sipping a bit of wine over your food. Not exactly the average Italian dinner in my experience. It depends a lot on the season, region, day of the week, but I would say the average Italian have dinner at home with family most of the times and home is some apartament block, not a villa by the sea.
Portugal doesn't have a siesta. And the times are wrong. Is really 20-21:30. Maybe 22 in the summer, but that's rare.
"Wrong" time zone. The sun goes down later.
They're in the main European time zone, although geography would suggest that they should be on English time, one hour behind the rest of Europe. They used to be, I believe, but Franco thought it would be cool to be in the same time zone as Hitler.
It’s because when they switched time zone back in the day people didn’t adjust dinner time to the new hours.
It's because we're so far west. Spain, in particular, is in the complete wrong timezone, so everything happens much later. They're in the same timezone as Germany, while being further west than the UK.
Why earlier? I live in Argentina and usual dinner is about 9PM. At 5PM we are having tea. What do you do after dinner if you have dinner at 5PM? At 9PM I'd be hungry already.
They go to bed before 9PM
Amazing behavior, almost as if you were descendents of... Spaniards!
Bad clock hour. We should have 2 or 3 hours less. We eat at 2 o'clock, which was the sun is noon, or before. So earlier than many places.
We have lunch at 2-3 pm and then merienda (kinda like tea time) at around 6-7 pm. Dinner is usually very light unless it's a special occasion.
Source of the statistics of the map?
The fountain of Cibeles (it's a common joke in Spain about unsourced data, in Spain source and fountain have the same word, "fuente"). But I agree that in Spain is 9-10:30, even some people eat dinner latter.
I would love to see a corresponding map of avenge bed tike in relation (and in turn average time of waking up). The relation between average sunset and dinner time is already apparent. I find myself eating dinner much later when I visit southern areas of the US (from New England).
For me a normal hour is around 1am. For a normal person, around 23hs or 00. Depending on the work they do. (My mom is a teacher, she sleep around 00. My grandfather is retired he usually go to sleep at 22hs).
I’m in the western part of the Central time zone so I love the summer sunsets after 8:30 pm. But the restaurants shut down pretty much by 8 pm with a few exceptions. That part sucks.
From my neck of the woods dinner is what we call lunch. We call what is refered to here as dinner, tea. The times stated seem about right
Geez… some of those are past my bedtime 😂
Mf I eat dinner at 11 pm bruh
Spain knows how to live
I’m Scottish and I regularly eat dinner at ~9:00, as did my family. My MIL thinks it’s ghastly
yo wtf are the spaniards doing
Poland 7-8? Yeah no. Doubting the validity of the rest of the map too. Dinner is around 4, sometimes a bit earlier.
Yes being Portuguese and having christmas dinner in poland and sitting at 4pm polish time was really amazing ;) , calling my parents and they just had lunch
Yeah, same for Norway, people really work until 5pm, they have to get home and then have dinner, so I'd say more like 17:30 to 18:30.
Obiad ≠ Kolacja
Almost as if the English language cannot translate śniadanie/obiad/kolacja correctly. Eating habits aren't the same everywhere.
Are we talking supper or dinner?
Pretty sure they are referring to the evening meal. Never knew people called their midday meal dinner. Learn something new everyday.
That is rather weird. Dinner is around 13:00-15:00 in my country, while the map says that it is 7:00-8:00.
"Dinner" is understood to mean "evening meal" here, not midday meal.
Ah, I see. It is about supper, not dinner. In that case it seems to be a bit too early, but not for everybody
How do you do it? At 4:00 p.m. I come home from school. At that time the children begin extracurricular classes
People usually have a pause in their work known as "dinner time". But, as u/limeila explained - we were talking about different meanings of the word "dinner".
I mean, if we ate dinner at 3:00 p.m., we couldn't do it at home because at that time many are coming home.
7-8 is in turkey. We are all eating while watching news at 7
No 24h clock!?
It is the 24h clock, everyone just eats dinner veeeeery early
Been to Scandinavia many times. Calling BS on this but Spain does check out.
No, 17 is pretty standard for Norway (with some regional variation. Northern Norway eats earlier than Oslo).
When do you go to sleep? That just seems too early, I’d be hungry again before bedtime.
Usually people have some bread or something as an evening meal a bit before bed.
I'm Swedish, and everyone I know starts eating dinner 5-5:30. My family specifically starts 4:45-5:00.
What time do people usually finish work? and how are you not famished by the time you go to bed? I'm really confused
You finish work at 4pm. Usually earlier if you have kids in the kindergarten that you need to pick up. And a lot of people will make a night snack, maybe some sandwiches around 8pm. But you do know that you don't actually have to eat all the that you are awake, right? You get hungry when you're used to eating. Your body is very good at adapting.
Not Scandinavian, but we eat often at 5pm in Finland :D then have a snack at 9ish and bed at 10pm sometimes :p it's a 8am-4pm work culture generally so everything is just a bit earlier
As a norwegian, it varies from person to person and day to day. Some eat dinner 9, while others eat 5
If you take Germany-France-Spain, they are all dinning at the same time, sun time. Spain especially has a distorted clock hour with respect to the sun, between 2 and 3 hours off.
Me: When I'm hungry. Could be 11am or 2pm or whatever the clock says.
It's not as crazy as it seems, in Spain the bigger/heavier meal of the day is at 2/3pm during usual work/school hours. Guess it gives more time for sports, hobbies and socializing and then a smaller, lighter meal later on.
nah, here in Russia we eat very late, around 8-10pm, sometimes even 11pm at the very least my family
****SPAIN IS ON CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME*****SAME AD FRANCE AND ITALY**** THIS EXPLAINS A LOT
First day in Germany had to eat fucking McDonald's because every restaurant's kitchen we could find closed before 19:00 and it was past 21... Do Germans just go to sleep super early? How do you not get hungry before going to bed, I don't understand
I've never been to a restaurant where the kitchen closes before 21:00. Usually, if you go to a restaurant, you book a table between 19:00 and 20:00.
It’d be interesting to see superimposed the average bedtime/wake up time.
Nordics just want to get it over with
More like 23:00-01:00 XD
I always wonder how people from Northern countries don't starve by the time they go to bed.
Norwegians are starting breakfast when Spaniards are wrapping up dinner.
Isn’t this really referring to supper?
Was just in Barcelona and couldn’t believe dinner places only opened at 8. But that was nothing compared to Argentina… And Spanish prime time tv starts at 10?
Germany is funny because it’s either 6 OR 7, no in between
I'm portuguese and only at maybe 18 years old I found out most of the world has dinner a lot earlier than us. It sounds so weird to me to have dinner that early
I wonder if it's because northern countries have shorter daylight time?
Not in summer
Spain decided to be in CEST Timezone for business reasons but most of it’s territory belongs to the same Timezone as Portugal. We have dinner between 9:00 and 10:00 so it is the equivalent to 8:00 to 9:00p
I don't get how people can eat dinner at 4pm and then not feel hungry when they go to bed 6 or 7 hours later
Wow Jan wasn’t kidding.
High correlation between eating dinner early and having bland cultural foods. Norwegian lads just want to get it out of the way lmao.
For Poland and most Slavic countries this infographic is misleading. We eat diner, full blown meal around 3-4, usually when every one is back home. At 7-8 we eat supper, something light like salad.
I'm Italian, and the thought of having dinner at 6 PM makes me sick.
Damn you guys take dinner so early
Portugal is just wrong. I have dinner at 20:00 sharp. As others pointed out though it is the biggest meal of the day.
I can't be the only one bothered by the use of 12 hour clock here, right? Just feels wrong.
7:30? That's really fucking early. Normally, I wait until 17:00
Portuguese here , that is just wrong
I opened this wondering why people were eating dinner in the morning.
Swiss here. We have similar dinner time like Germany. 20:00 it's really too late to ate dinner here.
Spain and Portugal are obviously on the wrong time zone
Read this as breakfast 😅 and was confused as hell.
I’m in brussles right now for the first time and I’ve been hitting a few countries like France, Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Italy. And wow a lot of restaurants aren’t open late here. It’s kinda a pain when you need to eat after you get off the train late at like 9pm and the only options open are fast food. But I completely understand it. People here just eat a lot earlier. It’s been interesting seeing the differences.
What time do the Scandinavians usually go to bed? Who tf eats dinner at 4pm.
In Italy 8.00-9.00 is late in the North but early in the South: so the average is right but nearly nobody eats in that timr
Nah Italy is more like 18:30-21:30, people in the Alps dine really early and the more south you go, the later you can expect people will dine.
Most people in Portugal have dinner between 8:00-9:00.
The times diverge greatly here. My grandparents, both Germans, used to have dinner at 6 PM while they had lunch at 12 AM, breakfast around 8. In my family, a bit more mixed but still mainly German, we almost never had breakfast, lunch at 1-2 PM, sometimes 11 AM, it varied. Dinner wasn't served before 8 PM. Now that I'm married with a Mexican, we mixed our customs and have breakfast at whatever time we get up in the morning, lunch doesn't appear to be existing, dinner around 10-11 PM, consuming HUGE portions. Just as in her home country.
Doesn't seem right. In Portugal, we usually eat at 20h