A typical Spaniard eating schedule is as followed:– Comida (lunch): anywhere from 1pm to 3pm, depending on your schedule. – Merienda (mid-afternoon snack): anywhere from 5pm to 7pm. – Cena (dinner): anywhere from 8:30pm to 11pm.
People Also Ask
Their day starts at 8:00 am and lunch is at around 2:00 – 3:00 pm. The whole city shuts down then except for tourist sites and everything re-opens at 5:00 pm. Dinner time is also very late, at 10:00 pm and unlike in the United States, they eat a pretty big dinner. Spaniards are also big fans of bread.
It may sound funny, but this is due to a complicated political reason in the past. ?It dates back to World War II when Spain was under the rule of General Francisco Franco, a dictator. In 1940, he changed Spain's clock to one hour ahead to make Spain in the same time zone as Nazi Germany.
A typical Spaniard eating schedule is as followed:– Comida (lunch): anywhere from 1pm to 3pm, depending on your schedule.– Merienda (mid-afternoon snack): anywhere from 5pm to 7pm.– Cena (dinner): anywhere from 8:30pm to 11pm.
As a result, Spaniards who would eat at 1pm or 1.30pm continued to eat at their usual time (now 2pm or 2.30pm), continued to have dinner at 8pm (now 9pm) and continued to go to bed at 11pm (now midnight).
Why do they eat so late in Spain? Spain's famously late mealtimes are due to the fact that the country has been geographically in the wrong time zone since World War II! During all that time, Spaniards have eaten at the same time they always have in regards to the position of the sun in the sky.
Lunch is the main meal of the day, often consisting of several courses and heavier foods. Most people in Barcelona eat lunch anytime between 1 and 4 pm, with 2:00 or 2:30 usually being the most common.
Lunch – 1:30 pm to 3:30 pmThese are the hours when the main meal of the day is eaten. On weekdays, restaurants offer set 3 course meals, including drinks, at very reasonable prices. You need to ask for Menú del Dia and maybe a little help with the translation.
Spain remains one of the few countries in Europe to continue the tradition of long lunches, and Barcelona nearly shuts down for several hours during the afternoon for siesta. After all, an indulgent mid-day meal often requires a post-feast nap.
Tipping in Spain works differently: The customer actually has the option to not leave any tip at all. However, restaurants expect a 10% tip on each bill—although it's not a formal rule, and that percentage is much lower than tipping practices in other countries.
The Spanish siestas likely started after Spanish field workers started taking breaks around the middle of the day to come in out of the sun. During their siestas, they would escape the heat at the hottest time of the day and give themselves time to eat lunch and hang out with their families away from the elements.