The battle of the bulge has begun. This is not a history lesson of the famous WWII battle; I am referring to what the winter season and all the holidays do to our waistlines. With all the “special” mealtimes coming soon, let’s re-digest one of the most controversial topics among old-time farmers. I am not referring to thermostat wars, or when it is appropriate to decorate for Christmas. This is a history lesson and a humorous look at the terms for 3 meals of the day.
First and foremost, I am not an old-time farmer. Since the average age of a farmer is said to be 58-1/2 years old, my age of 61 does make me an above average farmer. But I consider myself to be hip and young in mind and body. If you call the noon meal dinner, and the evening meal supper, I am calling you out as an old-time farmer. Perhaps you are being stubborn; get with the times. Am I going to regret that previous sentence?
Supper, is believed to be derived from the French word souper, meaning lightest meal of the day. That may explain why my one friend who cannot let go of that term still uses it; his mother is of French-Canadian ancestry. It is in his DNA. For most of history the last meal was indeed the lightest of the day; until the last 75 years, and you can blame electricity for that.
Bob Fitzer explained it all to me years ago. Farm work was incredibly physical and demanded a high calorie diet. Prior to the 1930’s our nation was predominantly rural and agrarian with electricity a rarity on the farm. This meant most families ate a hearty breakfast and a substantial noon meal and dinner meant the grandest meal, to provide the calories for the workday. Bob stated that the housewife would only serve scraps and leftovers in the evening for supper. The cook would never provide much to eat in the evening. In the winter season farmers lose daylight and quit work so early in the afternoon, darkness would hinder all work inside and outside. Can you imagine cooking and cleaning the dishes and table after the sun has set, working by candles or a lantern? Only the rich had artificial lighting, and farmers were not known for being rich.
Which leads to a conversation I once had with a veterinarian that grew up in Iowa. He stated, “We were poor, so we had supper at night, the rich folk in town had dinner at night.” The expanse of the meal and not the timing dictated his terminology. Towns and cities are also credited with the adoption of the term lunch for the midday meal.
Chances are if you are old fashioned and perhaps stubborn, let’s say over 70, you eat breakfast, dinner and supper. Even though every sit-down restaurant will have a breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu. You have been misspeaking, unless you are a Green Bay Packer fan from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin and eat at an old-fashioned “supper club.”
This article is typed by memory. I am resisting any internet searching because AI is trying to take over my computer and phone, and I despise it. I also cringe at the mention of Bitcoin and despise the influx of legalized drugs and gambling. And just to throw another source of contention into the mix here, we decorated and put up the Christmas tree before Veterans Day, or do you still want to call it Armistice Day?
Am I changing with the times or being stubborn to change? If you do not like me calling dinner lunch, lets meet outside after I eat supper and settle it the old-fashioned way. I suspect you will fall asleep or suffer frostbite from the cold standing outside for hours; I do not eat supper, and there will be no fisticuffs.
Fisticuffs! Who uses that word anymore; who is being old fashioned now?
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