Dinar…Sopar… Esmorzar

"A la taula i al llit, al primer crit"

(My roomates taught me this Valencian proverb which means sleeping and eating is always the first priority)

On Thursday I had a conversation with one of the teachers about the differences between eating systems in Spain, the U.S. and England. She was telling me that she couldn’t understand the eating system when she studied abroad in England because the timing was way off and because they ate different portion sizes depending on the time of day. English breakfasts are fairly large according to what most Spaniards usually eat for breakfast. She told me that the family she lived with in England usually had bacon, sausages, eggs, beans, bread, milk and orange juice for breakfast. “I just didn’t understand how they could eat all of that so early in the morning,” she said. I told her that the typical “American Breakfast” is more similar to an English breakfast than it is to a Spanish breakfast and that I myself find it difficult to adjust to the Spanish eating schedule, especially when it comes to breakfast.

A Spanish breakfast usually consists of a small pastry and a coffee or orange juice. Most of the time when I am travelling within Spain and stop at a restaurant for “breakfast,” I usually have the option of choosing between a croissant, toast, a donut, or some other type of bread item and a coffee or juice. According to the teacher that I talked to, she usually has a slice of toast and a glass of milk for breakfast. Many Americans living in Spain that I have spoken to actually prefer the Spanish breakfast over something that they would normally eat in America. I, on the other hand, don’t like it as much.


Making an "American Breakfast" in Spain is tricky
because you can never find the right ingredients.

Breakfast has always been my favorite meal, and a well-balanced breakfast serves many purposes: It provides you with energy; it keeps you from snacking throughout the day on unhealthy foods and has been shown to help you stay fit and enhance your brain activity. When I say an “American Breakfast” I’m not talking about having bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and grits (which is what I have at my home on some weekends) but simply something that will get me full and give me energy for the day. My idea of a good breakfast would be oatmeal with raisins, a cinnamon raisin bagel with fruit or an omelet with vegetables (and coffee of course), but it’s very difficult to get up early enough in the morning to cook myself breakfast, not to mention that there is also a lack of resources (Bagels are not popular here). Whenever I am forced to eat a “Spanish Breakfast” I am usually still hungry afterwards. Besides, the ton of sugar that they load onto Spanish croissants and donuts barely prepares you for the day ahead.

 

Although breakfast is definitely not one of the things that I can say that I admire about the Spanish system of eating, there are several things that I would consider adapting to. In contrary to most Americans’ “three meals a day” eating schedule, most Spaniards follow a different plan of six-seven meals a day. The eating system didn’t really come to my attention until we talked about it in my Valenciano class in the fall. We learned the Valenciano terms for the different meals and the times of the day:

1.      El desdejuni: This is the Valenciano term for breakfast, it’s eaten de matí (in the morning) and usually consists of a coffee, or type of juice, and bread.

2.      L’esmorzar: In Castellano, this term is “almuerzo” and it’s eaten a mitjan mati (in the middle of the morning). In America, we would refer to this as lunch, but in Spain it’s more of a mid-morning snack. At most schools, the kids have a 30-min break to esmorzar and to play outside. They usually eat sandwiches, fruit or yogurt.

3.      El dinar: This is the most important meal of the day in Spain and its eaten al migdia (in the middle of the day). The Spanish lunch time is usually much later than an American lunch time and the permitted time to eat is certainly much longer. In Spain, around “migdia” most businesses close for a couple of hours and most families return home to eat together. In my school, for example, the lunch time is from 12:30 to 3:00 pm and during this time the children can go home and eat and rest with their parents. Most shops close at around 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon and don’t open back up until 5:00 or 6:00 that evening. Most government-owned places, however, close at around 2:00pm and don’t re-open until the next morning. As an American, this schedule was very frustrating to me at first because whenever I needed to get something done, everything was always closed.

4.      L’aperitiu: This is a small snack that some people have before el dinar; it’s similar to an appetizer.

5.      El berenar: This is another small snack that is eaten a mitjan vesprada (in the middle of the evening) before dinner time.

6.      El sopar: This is the meal eaten a la nit (at night) and what I would refer to as dinner. Because the Spanish lunch is more important than dinner, most people eat a very large lunch, and something small for dinner, such as a bocadillo (a Spanish sandwich) or a salad. Spanish dinner time is also very different because it is eaten much later than an American dinner, like at around 9:00 or 10:00 at night. My roommates, for example, eat dinner at around 10:30/11:00 pm and they usually eat grilled meats, vegetables, soups and salads. According to the teacher that I spoke to, she didn’t like eating dinner so early in England (7:00pm) because by the time she went to sleep at night, she would be hungry again.

7.      El ressopó: This is what we would refer to as dessert and it’s eaten a la matinada, which is usually after midnight. Són els dolços de la nit: they are the sweets that parents usually eat when the children are sleeping. And yes, Spanish people normally stay up very late.

At first, I didn’t really think that the people in Spain ate all of these meals during the day; but after talking to my Valenciano teacher, who assured me that she never skipped any of the meals, and observing the Spaniards that I work and live with, I have come to realize that they really do follow this schedule exactly.