Did you know that there was actually no concept of breakfast or even lunch!
It all happened so that you can work!
In fact for years while growing up I never used to have breakfast! Now that is the most important meal for me!
But the fact remains that the modern standard practice of eating three fixed meals a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—mostly solidified during the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, though the individual meals evolved over centuries.
Most Europeans ate only one or two main meals a day. The main meal (“dinner”) was eaten around midday, and a smaller, lighter meal (“supper”) was eaten in the evening.
What about the now most important meal of the day!?
Well, eating immediately in the morning was often frowned upon as gluttony or reserved for laborers, the sick, and children!
Then came the lights and the wealth!
As artificial lighting improved and aristocratic evening social customs changed, the wealthy began pushing the main “dinner” hour later into the evening.
This left a long gap in the middle of the day, giving rise to lighter midday snacks like “nuncheon,” which eventually evolved into lunch. Meanwhile, morning breakfast rooms became fashionable among the rich!
Finally the most important reason of the three meal system! The Industrial Revolution!
This created the famous Fixed factory shifts!
This came with the standardized clock times, and the physical distance between home and the workplace which further forced workers to take scheduled midday breaks for a portable meal (lunch), while needing an early morning meal (breakfast) to sustain long hours of physical labor.
By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, this three-meal pattern had become standard across urban society! All because you need to be on time for work!
And when you are on time then you can watch the amazing movies made by
Singeetham Srinivasa Rao!
He will be missed
Om Shanti….
