Thursday, November 6, 2008

What Meals Are Called

So when I was growing up I think there was breakfast, lunch, and supper. We had Sunday dinner at noontime, but the rest of the time I think our lighter meal was usually at noon. When we had company at night it was also called dinner.

Cut to the present. I have a semi-German husband who speaks English fabulously well, two American children who think they know everything, and we seem to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, except when we have a light meal in the evening, which is then called Abendbrot (evening bread; this takes no time to cook but a huge amount of time to prepare and put on the table, and almost as long to clear: it consists of many different kinds of breads, and pickles, and salads (only because I, Mama, am generally not in a position to eat all the other things, thanks to Weight Watchers), and things to put on the bread such as meats, and cheeses, and pâtés, and tomatoes and lettuce and pesto and mustard (what was called stuff'n'junk when I was growing up except that we didn't do pesto or mustard).

I also have two parents who live in a place where a large hot meal is served around midday, and it is important to my parents that that be called dinner. So while we are visiting them we all practice calling the midday meal dinner. 

And I also sometimes try, when we want to have somebody over to share our evening meal, to make a point of inviting them to "supper" not "dinner" if it's not going to be big or fancy. 

I'm not sure why I'm writing this right now except that maybe it's because I was curious to know what the rest of you out there in the world are calling your meals. So do weigh in!? What do you call your meals?   

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