An extension from my previous elevenses post, I guess you can see where my train of thought then headed ?

Although all these naming conventions for mealtimes exist, most have fallen into disuse or misuse, it is quite likely in the UK today for people to eat at times which are most convenient to them, and three / four square meals a day are no longer necessarily observed, I personally am around the two meals a day mark at the moment, not good for my glycemic index ?

At certain points in history, and if you belonged to a certain genteel class, it was possible for ones entire day, to be fully occupied and merrily spent observing an unending parade of mealtimes, that could span rising in the morning until retiring to bed of an evening, possibly as many six meals a day, and two prescribed points at which alcohol was specifically imbibed, for a few very privileged people whose lives were very genteel and who never had to labour.
For instance an extremely genteel itinerary for those born to a lifestyle of leisure might be :

Breakfast
Elevenses
Lunch
Afternoon tea
Sundowner (alcohol)
Dinner
Late Supper
Nightcap (alcohol)

Of course all this over indulgence, would most likely lead to Gout, liver disease, heart attack and an early death.

Sadly consistent meal times in modern culture are no longer really the norm in the UK. These mealtimes, and rhythm’s of eating and conventions were invented when households and family’s were a great deal more stably structured than they are today in the uk.

RISING at the beginning of the day:

Breakfast : everyone agrees on the timing of this meal, the first meal of the day, which Breaks the Fasting of the sleep period during the night (except if one skips breakfast, and partakes of brunch that then being the first meal of the day)

Elevenses or Elevensies : A light meal with tea struck midway between breakfast and the midday meal, therefore in a regularised household routine directly at 11.00am, rarely if ever would anything warm be cooked for elevenses, often served with tea similar to ‘afternoon tea’, as later described. Some may attemptively mis-describe this event as ‘tea’, ‘going for a tea’ or taking a ‘tea break’ all of which, may in no way be classified as ‘Elevenses’. ‘Elevenses’ might rarely even be taken in a garden, though nowhere nearly as much as ‘Afternoon Tea’ which would frequently be taken in a garden in the summer, Elevenses will most often consist of cold light snacks sandwiches etc, combined with tea, but does not contain generally the ‘full sweet edge’ in its fancy’s foods, that ‘afternoon tea’ is so typified by. Also though very often guests maybe invited to ‘Afternoon tea’, elevenses would generally be taken by those resident in the household at the time, and rarely if ever would one invite guests to elevenses, often this would not include the working men of the household. One cannot for instance partake of elevenses in the same way one can go for an afternoon tea. Elevenses now an almost extinct mealtime remains if it exist at all, as a rarefied routine of unusually large houses, and wealthy and genteel households, which have a permanently resident matriarch in charge who runs the household to a very genteel timetable, though elevenses in its origins is supposedly lower class, it then crept up the classes and became more elaborate, some may well inform that elevenses was very simple just biscuit and tea and it has certainly evolved that way, but I in my distant youth did go to a household where it was strictly observed and involved sandwiches, biscuits and tea, not as extensive as afternoon tea can become but certainly allot more than tea and biscuits.

(though a mid morning ‘tea break’ or ‘break’ in an office may well be the pale orphan ghost of the real ‘elevenses’ (elevenses is a tradition almost exclusively operated by people in wealthy and genteel circles) the working man would probably scoff(an edible pun) at the pomposity of the idea of ‘elevenses, yet might strike if ‘tea breaks’ were not observed at some point during the day.

Brunch : An Americanism referring to a breakfast and lunch combined, a relatively recent invention stemming from fast paced urban life, often used by those who have claim not to have time for breakfast, yet can’t let go of the fact they have skipped a meal, an uncivilised indictment in any situation, or for those who have risen late and are much too hungry to wait for lunch, but too late timing wise for the meal to be described as breakfast, brunch may not occur later than lunch itself unless one wishes to distort the fabric of time, if you are partaking of brunch then you cannot rightfully claim to partake of breakfast or lunch that same day, as brunch is mutually exclusive with breakfast and lunch, and once partaken of, you may not consider yourself to have partaken of lunch or breakfast that same day. Brunch is not restricted to breakfast foods and may even rarely involve alcohol.

The great Lunch, dinner , tea debacle : the following lunch tea and dinner sections below must be read as a whole , to get a full understanding of how complicated the possible variation of mealtime naming, post breakfast is in the UK.

Lunch : A meal that is taken around midday, ‘Sunday lunch’ being a traditionally famous variant conducted on Sunday, that may also conversely be rightfully called ‘Roast Dinner’ or “Sunday Roast’ or ‘Roast’. Sadly beyond this time point in the day, the major confusion in English mealtimes occurs from lunch onwards, as depending on locale, class and historical precedent, lunch, dinner or tea may all, in fact be the same meal dependent on who is using the term and in which locale they live.

To clarify this situation it is easier to remember, that though ‘dinner’ may occur at ‘lunchtime’, lunch must always be at around midday, and that though ‘tea’ as per the expression … “going for ones tea” … “me teas on the table” “mams got me tea ready” maybe also in fact be ‘dinner’ this is certainly more the case in the north of england especially in areas where industry flourished where ‘tea’ in fact most often refers to ‘dinner’ or an ‘evening meal’taken post work or pre … a mid evening shift which might in the victorian factory sense be delivered to the worker from the household, though some people might well argue the reverse that southerners have got it wrong, and that dinner must always be a meal in the middle of the day. These eccentric confusions do little, but enhance culture and language, to serve as linguistic flags about upbringing and locale.

I think it is generally agreed ‘Tea’ when it is referred to, may never itself be correctly described as lunch or occur at midday except sadly on sunday mid afternoon, and remember when ‘tea’ is not prefixed by ‘afternoon’ the more northerly you go, it most often refers to an evening meal, and is completely different to ‘afternoon tea’ though down south if someone invites you to ‘tea’, it maybe necessary to clarify what they mean, certainly shops that provide afternoon teas in signage form may often say ‘teas served’ which makes things a little confusing, and it is important when someone invites you to “come to tea” to establish a time for it, as that will tell you whether they mean ‘afternoon tea’ or in fact an ‘evening meal’.

Guests would be more likely invited for Dinner, which might often be outside ones own home such as a restaurant or hall, and be a more formal affair involving guests, this classification though has been blurred. Lunch may or should depending on opinion be accompanied by alcohol, but often since 5 out of 7 lunches occur during a working day, it will be accompanied generally by less or lighter alchohol than later equivalents such as dinner or late luncheon.

Luncheon and Luncheons:
Is the unabbreviated word form of lunch, An organised or formal Luncheon can vary from a meal similar to afternoon tea, to cooked dishes in courses served with wine etc, and whenever you have luncheon it is not then possible to have lunch as well, though it is not, I guess impossible but certainly rare to accidentally have eaten lunch and also be invited to a Luncheon, Luncheon may contain cooked dishes, Luncheon is a meal often involving many people, though it is possible to have luncheon within a household or family context, in this case it is usually no different to having lunch except with guests and used by people within the middle to upper classes to imply lunch, but on a slightly grander social scale, and Luncheon in the context of “Going to a Luncheon” is now most often used to refer a formal lunch, in which many people are invited by an organisation or body of people. Older organisations and company’s might hold late lunches or luncheons, to which guests would be invited. Luncheons may also often involve a buffet style food service arrangement. The charity arena being an area in which Luncheons are infamously held. A formal meal at midday may also rarely confusingly be referred to as a dinner.

Late Luncheon: ‘Late Luncheon’ may extend the concept of ‘luncheon’ or lunch into the late afternoon or even very early evening, the later ‘Late Luncheon’ is, the more likely it is to drop, any ‘Afternoon Tea’ elements if it contained any in the first place. though late luncheon will always will rarely supplant dinner or tea as the final meal in the day but might perhaps be followed by a simpler affair like ‘supper’.

Nuncheon : a lighter meal or luncheon not a full meal, taken after noon not during mealtimes, perhaps later than lunch might be and definitely not as heavy, nuncheon has a much more informal personality, often indicative of a meal that is make do or cobbled together and reasonably informal, a combination of noon and luncheon, ie nuncheon.
The ‘cheon’ part deriving from the old english for drink or cup, and the nun part being a precursor of noon ie ‘noon cup’ or ‘noon drink’ perhaps inferring that nuncheon and luncheon makes reference to specifically to imbibing drink, though for the labourers or travellers who would have taken nuncheon the drink part being pretty important would have also involved some form of simple food. Most often field labourers would have taken the nuncheon in the field and not in a pub.

nuncheon in my opinion may more easily relate to food eaten casually or outside mid work or whilst journeying. The word duncheon exists as a surname, but im not sure whether this word has ever been used to refer to a mealtime ?

The Ploughmans Lunch myth

The ‘ploughmans lunch’ was as a cohesive peice of faux history popularised by the ‘milk marketing board’ to increase cheese sales in the 1960′s, and forced pubs into the Idea of serving proper plates of food at lunchtimes hitherto a haphazardly catered for need, which thankfully to some extent can be thought responsible for kicking off the whole ‘pub food revolution’. Prior to this pubs might well have been able, if they could be troubled to, knock you up the odd cheese sandwich, and would often have the odd jar of pickled eggs or onions and sometimes some cold meats on offer, but these snacks in most pubs in the 1930′s were a token gesture towards serving food, to sustain workmen who might otherwise not get a proper meal, but in these days ‘Beer’ was by labourers considered as important as food, and to some extent drink was also perceived as sustaining in a way than it is not today, Beer in itself being high in calories. Really the Ploughmans Lunch was a formalising and coalescing of the cold food ingredients that might well have already been in a pubs serving vocabulary, into a named plate of food that could be served like a meal to the patrons of the public house in a marketable way, which up until this point food in a pub had been a casual arrangement whose extent and quality was at the publicans discretion, In a way things were chamringly relaxed as in there was no formalisation of food being served, but if you had voiced your requirement of vittels to the publican he might often have something to offer, if you were lucky, but what it was and how it came, was most often pot luck, rarely would people think to the need of a choice, nor complain as to what was offered. A ploughmans as the first widely marketed meal in a pub became known, when done well is surprisingly satisfying – even today. Remember during war all such pre war pub food culture that did exist had been firmly limited for the duration of the war, and its recommencement was probably slow and limited due to extended rationing, to some extent the “ploughmans” was an attempt to formalise those bits that remained and increase cheese sales.

Traditionally consisting of :

A cold dish of Hunks of Cheese or sliced Cold meats or if luxurient both, Hunks of bread or long rustic rolls with pats of butter and essentially pickles most often a branston style pickle, and a couple of pickled onions, and a token salad – sliced tomatoes, lettuce possibly a cold boiled egg etc. but can also include pork pie, grapes, celery, carrot, pâté, hard boiled egg, beetroot etc, but to be honest these as referenced to the ingredients pubs had at hand throughout the country before the formalistion of the title by the MMB, a ploughmans could vary quite a bit the main things that remained the core of the dish, were the bread the cheese and the pickle in some form or another whether onion or chutney or both, most important is the rustic nature of the dish that means that most of the items served in a ploughmans must be with little fuss or long preparation in the dish itself as there was often little time in a between serving customers to allow its preparation. The ‘ploughmans lunch’ in its pre war unformalised era might have been called the “The ploughboys lunch”. But the marvelous thing about a ploughmans is how they vary depending on where you are, it enables each pub to put its own twist on the idea, but with a central trinity that remains.

Basically the contents of a couple large hearty sandwiches rolls unmade. This being very simple for publicans to knock up with little need for a cook etc. In the 1970′s pubs which had never really served food, soon started by offering simple cold dishes like this and then progressed to deep fried basket items, and onward into a situation in which very few pubs indeed, now … could get away without serving food of some sort that requires a chef or a cook to prepare.

Essentialy in the 1970′s allot of people were duped into imagining this was a dish traditionally made for a ‘ploughman’, though its heritage is foggier than the marketed dishes name from a pub serving perspective, but the meal served in the field to labourers may well have consisted of these elements in a homemade rustic picnic form.

If you come across an old pub with a run down interior and lots of local characters, sometimes they may still only offer a cheese sandwich or pickles, and this is remnant perhaps of a pub that has never got fully drawn into the food provision game, this might might well be an original survivor pub, whose purely drinking custom has always and until the modern day been enough to sustain it, these pubs are very rare today. Sadly a very large number of historic pubs have been ruined by modernisation and the ubiquitous and obscenely appended Thai restaurant. Pubs really have to offer food now as the consistency of post work drinking patterns has to some extent wained, and this pub provision of food, has probably had its greatest impact on late opening simple cafes surviving in the smaller towns and larger villages, though expendable income to be spent on eating out since the 1930′s versus eating at home has greatly increased. And Pubs that dont serve food may find it difficult to draw enough passing trade and may depend on locals only.

Picnic : I guess its important to mention picnics, even though they themselves aren’t a specific mealtime, though they always refer to a portable meal taken outside most often at the more hospitable and warmer times of the year, picnics are not only for lunchtime, it also possible to have picnics at other times, for instance in the early evening, or even possibly for the most eccentric as a late supper under starlight in summer, sometimes outdoor concerts maybe held in the evening in the summer in which one might bring an elaborate picnic.

Afternoon Tea: is most often a semi informal event, though it can be formal such as The queens ‘Garden Party’, being a very elaborate form of ‘afternoon tea’. It must of course involve the brewing and serving of tea, and is typified, by a selection of sandwiches, especially and most infamously little triangular cut or baton cut crustless and signature cucumber sandwiches, followed by an array of sweet cakes, pastries and biscuits to be consumed with the tea. Afternoon tea should be taken from 2:15-3:45, and not generally be taken later than 4.00pm , as this runs to close to the wind of becoming ‘high tea’ which is really an evening meal. as ‘afternoon tea’ has a witching hour beyond which it cannot exist, hence the reason why all cream tea shops must close their doors before the possibility of someone elsewhere in the land serving an evening meal, though strangely tea may be drunk with any meal and at any time in certain class groups and areas. As an evening meal called ‘tea’ may often include a cup of tea.If one had an expansive afternoon tea or luncheon, it might be possible to skip dinner or tea and go straight for a light supper.

Sundowner : though not a meal time, is a rarer item … a specifically prescribed time for a drink, an expression from colonial times , that refers to the first drink at the end of ones working day, taken before the evening meal, receiving its name from the implication it was a drink to be taken whilst the sun set, and possibly quite literally watching the sun set whilst drinking, one can be invited to a sundowner, which does not imply eating of any sort, but from a sundowner one might well be invited or proceed to dinner with those involved in the sundowner. A Sundowner is also a recognised cocktail. Sundowner is one of only two terms I know for a drink taken at a specific time. though an entire article could be dedicated to a description of phrases related to partaking of a drink.

Dinner : probably historically, a “dinner” referred to grand meal in a hall, but it now refers to the main meal of the day in its casual sense, for some people ‘dinner’ can be anytime between the midday meal or the evening meal. In its formal sense it refers so a social event in which many people attend, and people are often invited to a dinner. Though generally I would state that dinner is more often than not, a late lunch if it occurs at lunchtime at all, and has the vibe of the evening about it, and may often be accompanied by more alcohol than lunch might be, though it is possible for an informal meal taken midday to be called dinner in some class groups and those people would often call their evening meal a ‘tea’.

High Tea or Meat Tea : is a hybrid early evening mealtime generally from 5-6pm, always to be found post ‘afternoon tea’. That could suffice as ‘afternoon tea’ and an evening meal in one hit, and generally would contain similar cold food or pre-cooked elements as ‘afternoon tea’ but was in general use by the working classes and farm labourers on return from work and would suffice in that case as the evening meal, it may also followed by a simpler late supper. sometimes the alternate name of ‘meat tea’ was used to imply its more substantial nature than ‘afternoon tea’, involving dishes such as welsh rarebit, cold meats , fish, eggs, sandwiches, and this meat teas was linguistically truncated and evolved into the evening mealtime known as ‘tea’ ? ‘High tea’ is sometimes now used to imply a very special rarely observed, elaborate and more meal like and formal version of ‘afternoon tea’, though this is probably a misconception or evolve-ment of its original origins, stemming from cross class fertilisation and misconception.

Tea : An informal simple evening meal often used and originally invented, when referring to a meal that is prepared for and awaiting one, at the return from work, or in childhood years school or play, tea being a term in more general use by the lower classes as a name for the evening meal, originally descendant as a lower class form of ‘afternoon tea’ called ‘High tea’ because it was taken on return from work, as ‘afternoon tea’ was generally only be taken by the leisurely classes. Though ‘tea’ is now often prepared after arriving home from work, such is the misery of modern life, where there are no longer the ever resident empress matriarchs of the household, to maintain the comforting genteel archaic rhythms of eccentrically supernumerary mealtimes. Tea might often involve the drink itself, being included with the meal even if it was and evening meal.

‘Supper’ or ‘Late supper’ or ‘Light supper’: The latest of possible meal times, supper is thankfully generally conducted in the evening time and possiblly quite late within the evening, often used to describe a meal following an after work leisure event, visiting a gallery or theatre etc, and is usually the ltest possible meal before bed time, supper is also usually referred to when one is having a smaller, simpler meal, less formal mean than say dinner, and most often at home or in a restaurant, the upper to middle classes for instance might invite guests to a supper, but it is often to be understand that less effort will be put into its preparation than a dinner. Supper in certain northern areas is used to refer to a meal prepared after returning from work at the end of the day in the same way that ‘tea’ is, as in “going home for my supper” or northerly colloquially pronounced perhaps as “gawin hame for me supper”

Scran and more rarely ‘scoff’: a casual term referring to a casual meal or food one is going to eat, not specific to a certain mealtime though most often in reference to an evening meal, tea or snack, in use in the north of england the navy and mainly Scotland, often when referring to an informal meal prepared at home or eaten out from an informal source. ie “im going hame/da toon to get me scran”( hame = home, toon = town), scran has implications of food for sustenance, rather than fine dining. The way in which scran is used ‘scoff’ may rarely also be used in a similar way, ie in the expression ‘im going to eat me scoff’ which is referring to eating the ration or food originally in a military sense one has at hand to sustain oneself, ‘vittels’ could also fall into same category.

Scran though definitely not formal dining, may refer with fondness to a food one knows well and desires or likes as in its ‘good scran’ ie good food, also scran can refer to foods one takes for sustenance and eat at a less than genteel pace so that some other activity may be recommenced afterwards, in the same way that someone may often indicate they have to ‘go home and get their ‘tea’ first before meeting up or re-convening later in the same day.

Scran can often refer to fast food purchases from informal eateries, pie vans at football grounds, chippy’s (fish and chip shops) etc but was originally used with reference to traditional foods of an english cultural origin, though this may now be used to refer to foods eaten from most of the faster food establishments. The german equivalent of scran when referring to fast food, might well cover say ‘currywurst’, which i would say is an equivalent of say fish and chips, or a good hot pie, as might be served from many informal establishments.

‘Tea breaks’ of course maybe fitted in anywhere throughout a working day, but may only really be included once or twice a day without being considered a hinderence on work ? once either mid morning or afternoon or both, this was once such a tradition in larger institutions or businesses of this period that a ‘tea lady’ might well have been afforded by a civilised business, who would roam a large business with a trolly serving hot tea from an urn, with biscuits and buns etc. sadly ‘Tea ladys’ have to all purposes dissappeared from english culture due to economic global competition, the ubiquity of takewaway coffee establishments etc and the reduced civility of existence. I have been fortunate to a few times rarely in my youth experience the charms of a tea lady in the tail end of their era and this even for my childhood considered an extreme rarity.

Snacks and takeaways though not specific mealtimes can be enjoyed and sneaked in most times of day and may substitute in an increasingly uncivilised segregated and less family group orientated culture, for meals and mealtimes. large numbers of familys in britain today middle class and below may be found to eat their evening meal in front of the TV, and would in america be referred to as a TV dinner, and allot of the pre-prepared microwave meals today, can be considered the progeny of the originally american marketed tv dinner. Though in america they went as far to include pudding also in the military style tray meal.

Night cap : a last drink of the evening returning home or retiring to bed, most often and almost exclusively referring to an alcoholic drink.

RETIRING TO BED at the end of the day.