WHY PEOPLE EAT SO LATE IN SPAIN?

On my first morning in Madrid, I woke up with an empty stomach and hit the street to find some food. Time was already past 11, so a big lunch is what I wanted. However, most restaurants were still closed, and the opened ones only served cafes. Turns out I was looking for lunch when many locals are still having breakfast. 

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While it's not true to say that Spaniards have late breakfast, their lunch and dinner are  generally later than in most countries. In Spain, lunch is the biggest meal in the day and generally eaten in the early afternoon or afternoon, before or during siesta (which is a lunch break in Spain). Dinner is lighter and eaten very late, normally between 9 pm and midnight.

 

Something that many consider "Spanish laid-back lifestyle" could be one of the explanations, however, the real reason why Spaniards eat late is because they live in the wrong time zone. It may sound funny, but this is due to a complicated political reason in the past.

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​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. After the war, the clock was never changed back, and Spain has been running on Central European time, when geographically it is on Greenwich Mean time zone, along with Portugal, the UK and Morocco.

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Spaniards did not adjust their normal schedule to the new time zone, which means their meals, work hours or even TV programs were pushed one hour ahead on the clock. The 8 pm dinner then became 9 pm.

 

Aside from that, the time change also means the sun rose and set an hour later. In the summer, the days are longer, perfect for a 10 pm tapas. These super late dinners explain why the nation has a tradition of siesta lunch break on working days as mentioned above, of course, siesta might be different in big cities. 

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