Is tea a meal?

Applause

I've never understood why anyone calls their evening meal "tea", it makes no sense to me at all, I've always said "dinner" myself. When you say you're having tea, how is anyone supposed to know the difference between the heavenly drink and your dinner? :eek:

If you don't call it tea what do you call it?

PARlance

Tea & Tae.... they're not even spelled the same.

LordSutch

Tea can mean either . . .

Fancy a cuppa?

No I haven't got time, I'm off home for my tea

Kev W

PARlance wrote: »

Tea & Tae.... they're not even spelled the same.

Those are two different languages.

smash

It's dinner. Tea is something you drink.

And it's soda. Minerals are "a naturally occurring substance that is solid and inorganic representable by a chemical formula, usually abiogenic, and has an ordered atomic structure."

cdeb

Applause wrote: »

When you say you're having tea, how is anyone supposed to know the difference between the heavenly drink and your dinner? :eek:

If you're having tea, I think the implication is you had your dinner for lunch.

topper75

But if you give a young fella a tin of Coke when he is eating his tea, then it is also a mineral.

GenGenie

Something else

In some parts of the west, "tea" is your evening meal - when you have had dinner during the day. (Some people call it supper ?) For your "tea" you'd have a sandwich, beans on toast, small salad, etc.

I married someone from leinster and he was equally confused by the concept of having your "tea" !

Surely you believe "tea-time" to be around 6-7 pm ??

Tea is for the weekend. Dinner is all the other days.

Eugene Norman

While I call the mid day meal lunch and the evening meal dinner in general it depends on the size of the meal. Christmas is dinner but midday.

For people who used to have their main meal at mid day the later meal was originally supper, then tea.

This came from an earlier meal taken by the posh from 4-6 pm which always had tea with cakes or sandwiches. You can still get this in Dublinin certain upmarket hostelries.

Sheep Lover

smash wrote: »

It's dinner. Tea is something you drink.

And it's soda. Minerals are "a naturally occurring substance that is solid and inorganic representable by a chemical formula, usually abiogenic, and has an ordered atomic structure."

Pfft soda, fecking American wannabes. It's a mineral

Squidgy Black

GenGenie wrote: »

In some parts of the west, "tea" is your evening meal - when you have had dinner during the day. (Some people call it supper ?) For your "tea" you'd have a sandwich, beans on toast, small salad, etc.

I married someone from leinster and he was equally confused by the concept of having your "tea" !

Surely you believe "tea-time" to be around 6-7 pm ??

Jaysus I'd only be having my dinner around 7pm never mind having another meal after dinner at that time.

kylith

Sheep Lover wrote: »

Pfft soda, fecking American wannabes. It's a mineral

It's fizzy pop.

And you might drink it with your dinner. At dinner time.

Eugene Norman

Afternoon tea.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatime

cdeb

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Afternoon tea.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatime

And if you read down a bit further to the bit that's about Ireland, not England, you find -

High tea (also known as meat tea or tea time in Ireland) usually refers to the evening meal or dinner of the working class, typically eaten between 5 pm and 7 pm

I think a large meal (dinner) at lunchtime and something light (tea) is supposed to be better for you in general actually.

NachoBusiness

To ad even further confusion.

When Murdock from the A Team says he doesn't like Tea, he's actually referring to a colleague of his.

Eugene Norman

smash wrote: »

It's dinner. Tea is something you drink.

And it's soda. Minerals are "a naturally occurring substance that is solid and inorganic representable by a chemical formula, usually abiogenic, and has an ordered atomic structure."

It's pop in parts of the U.S. and Canada.

mad muffin

Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner

No tea

dont bother

tea is for culchies

Eugene Norman

cdeb wrote: »

And if you read down a bit further to the bit that's about Ireland, not England, you find -



I think a large meal (dinner) at lunchtime and something light (tea) is supposed to be better for you in general actually.

True but afternoon tea was also common here even in Dublin. The use of the word tea to describe a meal is what the OP is confused about and it's fine.

blackbird98

Eugene Norman wrote: »

While I call the mid day meal lunch and the evening meal dinner in general it depends on the size of the meal. Christmas is dinner but midday.

For people who used to have their main meal at mid day the later meal was originally supper, then tea.

This came from an earlier meal taken by the posh from 4-6 pm which always had tea with cakes or sandwiches. You can still get this in Dublinin certain upmarket hostelries.

When I was growing up, dinner (main meal) was around 1 o clock, tea (usually something light, sandwich / eggs etc) at around 6 o clock and supper was a snack before bed, usually around 9 o clock

smash

Eugene Norman wrote: »

It's pop in parts of the U.S. and Canada.

Yea but they also think a fanny is an arse.

Eugene Norman

dont bother wrote: »

tea is for culchies

Afternoon tea is for the gentry.

cdeb

Bit here from boards' archives on why they're minerals incidentally - and not pop, soda, soft drinks or fizzy drinks

Eugene Norman

blackbird98 wrote: »

When I was growing up, dinner (main meal) was around 1 o clock, tea (usually something light, sandwich / eggs etc) at around 6 o clock and supper was a snack before bed, usually around 9 o clock

That's four meals a day though. When supper died out the term tea replaced the latest meal for people who had dinner at mid day.

I personally say lunch for the midday meal but I don't always say dinner for the evening meal. I say light meal or whatever. A dinner is a big meal to me.

Ruu

Something else

Post lunch I call it.

The meals were traditionally breakfast, luncheon, and dinner. Luncheon was served around one pm and dinner not until eight pm, in the upper and middle class households in ye olden days. To fill the void that would be generally make itself felt in the late afternoon, Afternoon Tea - a between meals meal - was served between 4 and 5.30 to keep the gentry going while the less fortunate below stairs slaved over the several courses of the evenings dinner. To keep things simple for the busy staff, sandwiches and small slices of cake were served with pots of tea. The sandwiches utilised the left over vegetables and cold cuts from the Luncheon, and the fancies were slices of cake left over from a dinner or lunch course.

Those people without an army of staff to keep them in food, made do with three meals. Breakfast was whatever was to hand or could be put together quickly in a pre-dawn start, dinner was the main meal of the day at midday because there were many hours of work still to be done and exhaustion had to be staved off. The midday meal of dinner would consist of whatever vegetables and/or starchy foods were available to city workers, meat was a rarity until long after the industrial revolution. In the countryside, agricultural workers were better nourished because they had access to dairy foods, butter, milk, cheeses, and meat. They worked insanely long hours, and needed it.

When the working day was done and with a very early start ahead, bedtimes were early. The evening meal consisted of whatever could be scraped together for a makeshift meal, and if you were lucky, hot tea. It was usually leftover bread and anything left from breakfast and the midday meal. Since the midday meal was the main event, it was called dinner, and since the evening meal was roughly at a time the gentry would be enjoying their afternoon tea, the evening meal was called tea. It just hasn't changed for many.

Applause

Eugene Norman wrote: »

That's four meals a day though. When supper died out the term tea replaced the latest meal for people who had dinner at mid day.

I personally say lunch for the midday meal but I don't always say dinner for the evening meal. I say light meal or whatever. A dinner is a big meal to me.

Here in Portugal we have four meals a day though
Breakfast - When you wake up
Lunch - Noon
Lanche - 5 - 6pm (toastie and coffee)
Dinner - Anywhere from 7 to 10pm

freshpopcorn

Something else

Coke, Fanta, 7-up, sprite are fizzy drinks.
Regarding meals it all depends on what your brought up on.
Some people have.
Breakfast.
Lunch.
Dinner.

Breakfast.
Dinner.
Tea/supper.(generally people know what your referring too. Often tea is followed by time)

Eugene Norman

Candie wrote: »

The meals were traditionally breakfast, luncheon, and dinner. Luncheon was served around one pm and dinner not until eight pm, in the upper and middle class households in ye olden days. To fill the void that would be generally make itself felt in the late afternoon, Afternoon Tea - a between meals meal - was served between 4 and 5.30 to keep the gentry going while the less fortunate below stairs slaved over the several courses of the evenings dinner. To keep things simple for the busy staff, sandwiches and small slices of cake were served with pots of tea. The sandwiches utilised the left over vegetables and cold cuts from the Luncheon, and the fancies were slices of cake left over from a dinner or lunch course.

Those people without an army of staff to keep them in food, made do with three meals. Breakfast was whatever was to hand or could be put together quickly in a pre-dawn start, dinner was the main meal of the day at midday because there were many hours of work still to be done and exhaustion had to be staved off. The midday meal of dinner would consist of whatever vegetables and/or starchy foods were available to city workers, meat was a rarity until long after the industrial revolution. In the countryside, agricultural workers were better nourished because they had access to dairy foods, butter, milk, cheeses, and meat. They worked insanely long hours, and needed it.

When the working day was done and with a very early start ahead, bedtimes were early. The evening meal consisted of whatever could be scraped together for a makeshift meal, and if you were lucky, hot tea. It was usually leftover bread and anything left from breakfast and the midday meal. Since the midday meal was the main event, it was called dinner, and since the evening meal was roughly at a time the gentry would be enjoying their afternoon tea, the evening meal was called tea. It just hasn't changed for many.

That's pretty good synopsis except I think that working class tea was way later than 4pm. It might have been at 6pm because as you say, people went to bed early by our standards.

And it couldn't have been called tea until the working classes could afford tea, which was heavily taxed until the mid 19th century.

(If you ever look at early tea cups they were tiny. Because it was so expensive).

Eugene Norman

Eugene Norman wrote: »

That's pretty good synopsis except I think that working class tea was way later than 4pm. It might have been at 6pm because as you say, people went to bed early by our standards.

And it couldn't have been called tea until the working classes could afford tea, which was heavily taxed until the mid 19th century.

(If you ever look at early tea cups they were tiny. Because it was so expensive).

Calling it tea was more of an aspirational copy cat thing. Afternoon tea was served between 4 - 5.30, and since bedtime were as early as eight o clock, tea time was roughly the same time.

My dad calls the loo a throne, but he's not King of anything.

LordSutch

smash wrote: »

Yea but they also think a fanny is an arse.

I still have tears running down my face after reading that one

time to put the kettle on me thinks.

Dial Hard

cdeb wrote:

I think a large meal (dinner) at lunchtime and something light (tea) is supposed to be better for you in general actually.

Nope. As long as you have a calorie balance (deficit, if you want to lose weight) per 24-hour period, it doesn't matter when you eat your largest meal.

Tarzana2

Applause wrote: »

I've never understood why anyone calls their evening meal "tea", it makes no sense to me at all, I've always said "dinner" myself. When you say you're having tea, how is anyone supposed to know the difference between the heavenly drink and your dinner? :eek:

If you don't call it tea what do you call it?

On Sundays in my home growing up, we had Sunday lunch, which was the dinner of the day. So what we had in the evening was then tea, as it was a lighter meal.

topper75

Eugene Norman wrote: »

It's pop in parts of the U.S. and Canada.

In the deep south of the U.S., it's a coke.

Yeah, all of it - whether or not it's Coca-Cola.

Not odd really, seeing as Coca-Cola came from Atlanta, GA.

Variously called soda, pop, and even soda-pop in the US. Makes a bit more sense than mineral, since sodium carbonate is used to make it fizzy, which then makes it 'pop'.

Eugene Norman

Candie wrote: »

Calling it tea was more of an aspirational copy cat thing. Afternoon tea was served between 4 - 5.30, and since bedtime were as early as eight o clock, tea time was roughly the same time.

It was generally 6pm or later. You are underestimating the hours people worked.

My dad calls the loo a throne, but he's not King of anything.

That's not the same though. If a afternoon meal can be called tea, so can an early evening meal.

cdeb

Dial Hard wrote: »

Nope. As long as you have a calorie balance (deficit, if you want to lose weight) per 24-hour period, it doesn't matter when you eat your largest meal.

Not an expert here, but a quick google for "Big meal in the evenings" gives a lot of sources saying it's better to have your large meal in the afternoon.

Granted, some of it is because a late dinner spikes sugar levels before you go to sleep, while other sites seem to indicate it means you're less likely to burn off some calories in the evening.

Badly Drunk Boy

Candie wrote: »

Variously called soda, pop, and even soda-pop in the US. Makes a bit more sense than mineral, since sodium carbonate is used to make it fizzy, which then makes it 'pop'.

Relating to drinks, "soda" derives from sodium, a common mineral in natural springs, and was first used to describe carbonation in 1802.

Pretzill

I only ever had tea on a Sunday but that was because dinner was served at lunchtime -

As a grownup I eat dinner in the evening so no Tea even on a Sunday. But I still have supper - supper is the best meal of the day, however small.

And 'minerals' were only ever called that in a pub at home it was a fizzy drink but they were always 'red lemonade' and let me tell you, having a fizzy drink was a rare treat, and if all the Miwadi was gone you would have to settle for tap water.

Eugene Norman

Pretzill wrote: »

I only ever had tea on a Sunday but that was because dinner was served at lunchtime -

As a grownup I eat dinner in the evening so no Tea even on a Sunday. But I still have supper - supper is the best meal of the day, however small.

And 'minerals' were only ever called that in a pub at home it was a fizzy drink but they were always 'red lemonade' and let me tell you, having a fizzy drink was a rare treat, and if all the Miwadi was gone you would have to settle for tap water.

What's grownup got to do with it. Would you be a kid if you had an afternoon tea?

The question here is

Can tea be used to describe a meal.

Answer yes.

In fact coffee can be a meal, as in going for a coffee might, just might, involve food.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Something else

GenGenie wrote: »

In some parts of the west, "tea" is your evening meal - when you have had dinner during the day. (Some people call it supper ?) For your "tea" you'd have a sandwich, beans on toast, small salad, etc.

I married someone from leinster and he was equally confused by the concept of having your "tea" !

Surely you believe "tea-time" to be around 6-7 pm ??

Not just the west. In north east Leinster we called an evening meal Tea if we had "dinner" at lunchtime.

hairycakes

I'm from the Midlands and during the week, we have dinner after work so around 6 or 7. We wouldn't have tea on those days so it would go breakfast, lunch, dinner. On the weekends though, we have dinner around 2 or 3 and then tea around 7 so it would be breakfast, dinner, tea. Tea would be something small like a salad, sandwiches etc similar to what you would have for lunch I guess.

Wouldn't have breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea in one day, unless the silage boys are in and then all bets are off!

Its a farmer/rural thing in Ireland, you get up a grab a quick cup tea and go and milk the cows do farm work, have breakfast anytime from 9 to 10, dinner was usually at 1 and tea at 6. Breakfast and dinner were usually substantial meals teas was a much less of a big meal.