What time do you eat dinner (supper)?
 

First of all, I love facts like this, good post.

I'm around 6:30 most days. Perhaps an interesting point though...when I used to commute to and from an office building, it was never before 7 pm. Usually wasn't even possible and often closer to 8 pm. And then the weekend restaurant schedule would be a reservation around 7:30 at the earliest. I'll bet there are some interesting cuts of the data behind the averages (urban/rural, kids/no kids, etc.).

4-5 PM - sometimes 3:30 - I eat breakfast and a combined lunch/dinner meal.

Given any day of the week and what me, my spouse, and my kids are doing, we start eating dinner sometime between those times. Yesterday, it was around 5:30pm; tonight, it will most likely be around 8pm.

Late peak here.

It truly varies with me. I work 5pm-3am four days per week, so I tend to eat dinner around 9:30pm those nights. When I am not working, however, I tend to eat between 6-7 pm.

I usually eat supper at about 8 p.m. or sometimes I don't eat it at all if I had a bigger lunch. I don't really have time for supper, so when I do eat it, it's usually something small like a little bit of yoghurt or some fruit

This is a cool survey! I usually eat around 5-6PM. Sometimes because of work, I am forced to eat around 9PM. I don't like doing that and would try to avoid that as much as possible.

Growing up it was always 6:00. As an adult, I've been all over the place depending on where and with whom I am. Frequently, we do a late bigger breakfast and then have a late lunch/early dinner around 3:30 or 4:00. If we don't do that, usually some time between 5:30 and 6:00.

During sports season, we seem to eat around 9 p.m. since everything is scheduled during dinner hours.

We aim for 8pm unless entertaining when it would be nearer 9. Generally we haven’t really got back from work until 7 and I like to decompress before starting to cook.

Mrs Willie & I average about 6pm give or take 30 mins

At home we average about 9pm. Occasionally as late as 10. When we eat dinner out, obviously we have to adjust that to 7:30-8:00. We never go to bed before 12:30-1:00 though.

6-7 pm. I'm trying not to eat after because it's kinda bad for my diet. My kids can't, so they eat at night too.

I eat a dinner at 4pm or 5pm or 6pm. I didn’t have a problem with it. I woke up at 4am or 5am. I eat a small breakfast. I went to sleep early at 8:30pm or 9pm. I no longer wake at midnight. That’s from the past.

Some years ago I worked for an organisation where people from across the planet came together for a few days. It produced tremendous arguments between the USA contingent and everyone else as the Americans wanted to eat so early

When we stopped work at 17.30 the Americans wanted to go back to the hotel to dine. Everyone else wanted to waste an hour on the internet, go swimming go shopping or just do nothing.

At least the South Americans followed the Castilian practice of an early dinner at 22.00, suits me!

This seems really odd to me. As an American, I don't know anyone who eats dinner that early UNLESS they have small children. I'm sure there are some who do, but it can't be typical. I have also read somewhere, if I recall correctly, that the average dinner time in the US is around 6:30 (18:30). However, I have noticed when I'm traveling for work that many people do want to just eat dinner and go back to their hotel rooms after the work day -- often to call their children before bed time or just to relax and have the evening to themselves. Perhaps that is more of an American custom. And I will say, never in my life on a work trip, have I met someone who wanted to go swimming between the end of work and a group dinner!

I also find it interesting how comparisons are always "the Americans" vs. "everyone else". In a lot of cases these comparisons are actually "Some or most of Europe (but not all)" and everyone else.

I'm not saying this is an expert article, but it's at least interesting:
https://www.thedailymeal.com/1310452...-around-world/

According to this, dinner in the US is typically much later than several European countries.

All that said, I do believe in adapting to the customs of the country you're visiting, even for work. When in Spain, I would typically eat dinner around 9 pm/21:00.

I’m American, and I have to eat dinner by 5 or 5:30 at the latest. That’s just how I am. However, I wouldn’t extrapolate that to make a conclusion about all Americans. In fact, most of my American friends find my dinner timing quite frustrating. If I have an event dinner, I might even need to pre-eat ahead of time to avoid getting hangry. I often eat dinner before Mother even eats what she calls her “lunch” between 4 to 7 PM :-) (note that she doesn’t eat a meal after that, so it’s just semantics).

Also American, and I would find that frustrating if you were a co-worker who was traveling with me. Over the years, I've learned that I can appease most of my early colleagues by suggesting a 6 pm dinner, leaving the hotel at 5:45ish. It's a fair compromise for the early eaters like you and not so early for the rest of us that we're still full from lunch. My other trick is to suggest meet in the hotel bar for a drink before leaving for dinner...when you have a group that always lasts longer than people expect.

Interestingly, for many years I would have been horrified by a pre-7 pm dinner time. It was common when I was commuting to an office that I wouldn't get home until after 7 pm and my body adjusted. Now I've settled into a "between 6 and 7 is fine" schedule.

I also have used that trick, and I am still horrified by pre-7 dinners. :)

Late | Early
 

It depends. When I had lunch figures in. If I'm at a bar | restaurant with a happy hour [e.g.: 16:00-18:00] when appetizers are discounted, I will stuff myself with the appetizers. This includes venues like Beer Club Popeye in Ryogoku, Tokyo. :D

I eat quite late on work days (7-10pm start), but much earlier (6-8pm start) when I'm on vacation and not finishing work so late. I also adjust a little depending on the local customs of the country I'm in.

That's interesting, I think I'm the opposite. But I'm also a remote worker, so I get a little bored between the time I close my laptop and eat dinner. And its worse at this time of year when sunset is 4:15 pm.

With this thread in mind, I paid attention to when we ate dinner while on vacation over the last 5 nights: 7:30 pm, 6:30 pm, 8:30 pm, ~8 pm (long wait for service so I can't be exact), 7:30 pm. I will say the 6:30 and 8:30 were both determined by when a reservation was available. But safe to say I eat a little later when on vacation.

Rarely do I eat dinner before 7. If I had my druthers dinnertime would be 9 ish but US working hours disfavor chonotypes like mine.

As I get older, I can cope with eating earlier than I used to. I always used to eat after the theatre, for example, so around 9:30-10pm, but I can't cope with that anymore. Instead I'll eat pre-theatre at 6pm. The advantage is that I'm not particularly hungry then so I don't order nearly as much: the key then is not to have a snack on getting home at 10:30!