Why do Americans eat dinner so early in the evening?

Question

I'm from Brazil and here we usually eat dinner around 8 p.m.
P.S: i'm makin' this question here cuz in Brazil Y!Answer none did know to answer it.

Answer 1

It is just a cultural thing. Americans often go to bed at 10 or 10:30 and eating so soon before bed time can speed up weight gain.

We usually only have three meals, one at roughly 7am, one at 12, and one at roughly 6:30. six hours is a long time to wait for food!

Answer 2

ALL Americans don't eat dinner early in the evening. Some do as they may have other things to do in the evening, so their dinner hour has to be moved ahead. Many Americans belong to clubs, groups, organizations or attend classes that are held in the evenings. I believe in Brazil you have a longer lunch break and that gives you an opportunity to socialize or to do other things in the middle of the day, whereas Americans have only a short lunch hour so they aren't able to spend their time in the same way as you do.
There is also a factor of weather -- in some parts of America, the sun goes down at 4:30 in the afternoon, and it gets cold in the evening. In Brazil, it stays light until around 7 o'clock year round, and with the warmer weather, it is more pleasant to wait until it cools off a little before sitting down to dinner.
Those are just a couple of reasons that I know of -- there are likely others -- but my point is, all Americans don't eat early, only some, and those who do usually have a reason for it.
We might turn the question around and ask "Why do Brazilians eat dinner so late in the evening?"
The answer to both questions would probably have more to do with cultural habits than anything else.

Answer 3

Because we get hungry. = P

Seriously, I guess it's just our culture. I know that is begging the question, but really, that's the best way to answer it.

Though, a lot of people over here eat dinner later on in the evening. We may not wait until 8 p.m., but it's not uncommon for people to be eating the last meal of the day between 6:30 and 7:30. If you go to a US restaurant at these times, you'll probably see that they are fairly busy.

Answer 4

I think this comes from the 18th and 19th centuries when America was still predominately rural. Farmers ate early - in the A.M., lunched about 12 pm or so, then had supper around 5 pm. This was so the farmers could get back to the fields or to take care of the animals.

Also, there is no custom of "siestas" or afternoon breaks for a midday snack, tea or coffee.

The custom continues despite the fact that America is more urban and suburban. Also, many of us Yanks go to be early 10-11 or so, because we're early risers, too.

Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Well, yes if most people in Brazil have dinner around 8pm your very correct. We do have dinner early by those standards. I have dinner with my family around 6-6:30pm every evening. This is a good time for everyone to get in the house, relax and get ready for dinner, then do homework, etc. God bless

Answer 6

I don't know Brazilian culture very well, but I suspect that you eat a big lunch, or you eat another small meal sometime in the afternoon. In America we don't do either of those things, so we are hungry earlier in the evening. I think that Marie is right that this came from the farming tradition -- farmers go to bed early!

Answer 7

It is the working man's dinner time. Come home from work, fix supper, eat supper. Five pm. And get back up at 4am to commute back to work for a 6;30 am work starting time.
It is also our culture, we do not have an afternoon siesta, we work straight through the day until our shift is done. We do not have tea in the afternoon, either. We eat 3 meals a day, no formal snack time. Though we seem to find plenty of time to snack.

Answer 8

It's not early to us-- that's just when we eat. I usually eat later, around 7:00 p.m., but I'd guess that most Americans eat between 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Thats when many people get off of work and the kids are done with school, and I suppose we've just gotten used to eating around that time when we all come home.

Answer 9

It is better to eat dinner 5 or so hours before bedtime. Your food has time to digest & you will sleep better... In the old days farmers went to bed early so people ate earler. It is a eating habit that followed Americans even as they started moving into the cities___

Answer 10

I think it is in part because we eat three large-ish meals a day. In most cultures where the last meal is eaten later in the day (8 or 9 p.m.) there is an afternoon mini-meal like tea for the British. We don't do that.