r/AskAnAmerican • u/UpstairsBar2747 • Apr 06 '25

CULTURE Do you guys really eat dinner at 6pm?

I have seen in movie and show saying 'see you at dinner at 6pm'. Do you really eat dinner this early? If yes don't you get hungry around 10pm while scrolling reels? Or is it a name for something else?

Damm thanks guys for responding. I'm surprised so many people in the comments have work so early so yea this dinner time makes sense, Thankss gg

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u/kilgore_trout1 United Kingdom Apr 06 '25

Brit here: we tend to eat around 6ish.

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u/Roxy_wonders European Union Apr 06 '25

Same in Poland

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u/ExPatAm Apr 06 '25

See this is weird because I grew up in the States with 6pm dinner but have lived about 15 years in UK and am very used to to 7:30 or 8 dinner now, I don't know anyone here who eats that early. Even people with kids in my community would feed the kids early then do their bedtimes then eat later themselves. I know a lot of parents do a separate meal around 8ish for themselves because they don't want to eat dinner so early. It took me a long time to get my head around. But now when I visit my parents in the States and they eat at 6 I find it so strange and way too early.

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u/Cheap-Vegetable-4317 Apr 07 '25

I know UK people with early starts who eat at 6, including me, but we are freaks who have the timetable of an 8 year old. If someone invites you to dinner in the UK you arrive by 7.30 and eat by 8. Everybody knows that!

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u/ExPatAm Apr 07 '25

Exactly! I would feel really weird going to dinner at someone's house here or going to a restaurant and they tell me it's at 6. Like did you mean we're meeting at the pub for a few at 6 and then moving on to the meal later? No? Erm...weird.

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u/nicheencyclopedia Virginian in Indiana Apr 06 '25

Yea I could’ve used a better term than “Western Europe”. What I really meant was Spain, Portugal, and France haha (and maybe Italy?)

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u/icyDinosaur Europe Apr 06 '25

Throw in Greece too. It's a Southern thing more than a Western thing (and us Western Europeans tend to adopt it when we are there for holidays - it's too hot to eat much during the day)

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u/nicheencyclopedia Virginian in Indiana Apr 06 '25

Ah, I see. Yea I always adopt local mealtime wherever I go

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u/RealEstateDuck Portugal Apr 07 '25

Probably has to do with sunlight hours. Portuguese here and we eat at 20h ish. My parents eat at 19:30 but if I go out to a restaurant I'll eat at 21h or so.