It is surprising that eating three meals a day—breakfast, lunch and dinner—has been a custom only since 1890. Before this time, people only had two meals a day—breakfast and dinner. In the 16th century, breakfast was only to break one’s fast(开戒, 即开始吃东西). But 200 years later it had become a large meal, not just for family, but for numbers of guests as well. It was a social event. It began at 10 a.m. and lasted until 1 p.m. Then breakfast began to be less popular. It became, instead, a lighter meal and was taken at much earlier hour. By 1850 it had been pushed back to 8 a.m. and became a family meal. Dinner, however, went the other way. In the 16th century it was eaten at 11 a.m. Years later, it moved to the early afternoon, then to 5 p.m. By 1850 dinner time had reached 7 p.m. Lunch is a recent idea. It first appeared as a snack to fill the gap between breakfast and dinner.

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