Delia Online

By The Dinner Service: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 10:21
I fluctuate between the two which confuses my boy no end. I tend to think of it as tea if we eat quite early - 6 or before and dinner if it's later, but no hard and fast rule. I'm very inconsistent about it. The REAL poshies I have cooked for call it supper which no doubt some of you do as I'm sure you are far more sophisticated than me (or should that be "I"?) My boy insists that can't be right either as supper is something like a glass of milk and a biscuit at bedtime. I don't care what it's called as long as it tastes good!
DS XX

Replies

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 10:36

Supper in this house! - sorry!
Though as a child supper was a small snack before bedtime - but we don't have that any more.

PS - TDS - I am making the Delia beef in Guinness for our supper tonight - thanks for the recipe, will let you know how I get on.

By cake eater

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 10:42

Breakfast.6.30 am

lunch 12 ish

dinner around 8 pm.

not bad hours for oldies.LOL

By The Dinner Service: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 10:53
Cake eater, how do you manage set times for meals? We don't do anything at any particular time. It's nearly 11 now and I haven't even had a drink yet. We can eat tea/dinner/supper at any time between 6 and 10! We are odd though. Some nights OH doesn't even come to bed. Just works through the night and even through the next day too.
DS XX

By Biggles

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 11:22

Supper for us too. Usually sometime after 21:00 hours. My MIL has her dinner at 12:30 and I call that lunch.

I used to have tea when I got home from school and maybe supper, cocoa and biscuit, an hour or so before bed time but that was all in the dim and distant past.
Biggs

By Michele: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:06
It's supper for us, although if we are entertaining friends, it morphs into "dinner". If we invite people round for tea (which we never do) it's at around 4 pm, and we serve tea or coffee, sandwiches. cakes etc. We usually eat our "supper" at around 6.00-6.30 pm, depending on what time OH gets home from work. Not very good at having evening meals too late, we really struggled when we were in Spain!

By Gravy Queen, Buckingham Pantry: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:09
As a northerner TDS this should be easy for you! Breakfast, dinner, tea, supper.
Breakfast is breakfast, dinner midday meal (can also be known as lunch), tea is your evening meal, supper is a late night snack.
:-)

By bigeater

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:11

To me, tea is around 4 o'clock and is tea and cake! Afternoon tea at the Ritz or Mount Nelson in Cape Town. In fact the afternoon tea starts at 3 pm in Cape Town and is probably the most lavish affair in the world! If you ever end up in Cape Town try to head for the Mount Nelson, but don't eat for 7 days before!

Supper to me is something you have at home in the evening and is a meal with the family. Dinner is more formal and is at the table, i.e. a dinner party. You wouldn't say a supper party unless you want to make it informal! In Ireland you say Fish Supper, which is fish and chips I think!

In colloquial usuage in the United Kingdom people interchange tea for supper. Personally I don't like the use of tea for supper/dinner because tea should be tea and dinner should be dinner.

By jean 47: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:12
We are not posh at all so its tea for us as we eat between 6/630.And lunch is dinner for us too.
Common or what??? ;):):)
Jean x

By Gravy Queen, Buckingham Pantry: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:14
No Jean, not at all, for us dinner is dinner and tea is tea. Just how we do it around in our respective areas of the country!

By jean 47: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:15
Im a northener too....so it like GQ says,.....
breakfast,dinner (lunch) tea, supper.
Jeanx

By Jampling

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:33

Oh good heavens, lunch is never dinner, and dinner is never tea!! (Can you tell I'm a Southerner, GQ?) ;)

It's breakfast - or brekkie - lunch, afternoon tea (with sarnies without crusts and a pot full of tea mid afternoon) and supper. But if we have guests, supper becomes dinner, even though it's usually still at the same time - 8pm.

By Saffy.: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:36
Lunch is lunch. Dinner is dinner. Straighforward and easy peasy. We need to stick together Jamps or these Northerners will start taking advantage! Supper is a snack if you've had dinner at lunchtime! Tea isa cuppa.

By Gravy Queen, Buckingham Pantry: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:44
Advantage of what?

By Saffy.: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:45
Anything... you are a northerner after all!

By Gravy Queen, Buckingham Pantry: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 12:48
Sorry no idea what you are on about petal!

By oscarthegrouch: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 14:35
I call the evening meal "dinner".
To me, tea means afternoon snack or the proper afternoon tea you get in restaurants, hotels & certain cafes

By Camo

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 15:30

evening meal is supper ususally.

you can go out and have a lovely high tea still up here, sort of thing oscar is talking about.

By Sheila (formerly Saffron Senior): Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 15:39
Breakfast, lunch and dinner for us too. We have a very early lunch because we can't eat dinner late now that we are crumblies. So it's an early breakfast, lunch at around 12 and dinner 6.30.
We do say sconns though - does that count as northern?!!!
SaffyS xxx

By The Dinner Service: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 15:51
I didn't realise it was a north:south thing. I thought it was a posh:common thing. I guess I am both northern and common.
:-)
DS xx

By *Crumbs

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 15:57

I`m Irish, so sometimes it`s tea and sometimes dinner, and if posh friends are coming it`s supper!!!\

Real supper is what my granny used to make us before bedtime and usually incorporated lashings of butter and home made jam!

By Jameseybaby!!!

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 17:56

The term "tea" is revolting. Unless you are 94 and drinking a cup of the stuff that smells like old women........

By Saffy.

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 18:29

Don't hold back will you James ;o)

By Flapjack

Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 21:52

I think it is a northern thing for sure - with my parents I sometimes have to clarify if were meeting for dinner as in the evening meal or "dinner" as in lunch!

Like in other areas of the hospitality industry, I have to be consistent in the definition for meal services at work, especially when customers are not British, and for that "tea" is most definately a cup of tea with a selection of savouries and cakes, and dinner is the early evening meal!!

At home if I am having a quick 'everyday' type meal I sometimes refer to it as 'tea' but if I have gone to a bit more effort I call it dinner.

Don't suppose it matters really!??

Lets not get started on the various names for a plain bread roll in the various areas of the country..... Batch, Bun, Roll, barm cake, tea cake (to me a tea cake is an sweet thing with currents in it!) the list is endless!!!!

By cake eater: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
06 Sep 2008 23:40
James Baby you must be happy to know tha "tea" as a drink, never touches my lips.AND in comparison with you I am an old lady, no, make that woman.LOL

By Dottie May: Re: Do you call it tea or dinner?.....
07 Sep 2008 09:40
I thought "a bit of scran" covered everything - Brekkie, Lunch, Dinner etc. From a smelly old woman!! ha ha Dolttie Mayx