Why we would never have paella for dinner, but we would have sushi

Our refrigerators and cupboards are a good example of the abundance and consumer society in which we live.

We have toast with jam and coffee for breakfast, we eat salad and pasta

alla puttanesca

and we have miso soup for dinner, a French omelette with Gruyère, and a dressed tomato.

We have the possibility of choosing between multiple ingredients, some with distant origins, and combining them as we wish.

However, this has not always been the case nor do we choose as freely as we think: the products and recipes that we choose for dinner and not for lunch (and vice versa) are determined by a matter of culture and customs.

How have we decided to eat what we eat at every moment of the day?

For Anthony Rowley in

A World History of the Table

(Trea, 2008): “the dietary order is fragile, easily disrupted by custom, and rarely synchronized.

Sometimes it is due to a natural conjunction, other times, to a hypothetical divine intervention.”

More information

From Valencian paella to Alicante rice dishes: a delicious encounter in the Albufera

Thus, until 50 years ago, the majority of Spaniards ate leftovers for dinner or, directly, went to bed without dinner.

This is how gastronomy historian Xavier Castro, part of the

Institut Européen D'Histoire de L'Alimentation

, and author of the book

Ayunos y yantares, explains it.

Uses and customs in the history of food

(Nivola, 2001).

“Starting in the sixties, there was an important change in the diet, as we overcame the shortages of the Spanish post-war period.

Even later, it was common to eat leftovers for dinner, except in the highest social classes (the meager middle class also ate a light dinner or leftovers).”

Food, which was the most important meal of the day, largely determined dinner, as well as the little varied diet of the time.

“Cod, herring, stale bread or something cooked, a recipe ubiquitous throughout Spain, in its different variants or transforming it into croquettes or other recycling operations of its components,” says Castro.

Having yogurt and fruit as a synonym for a Spartan dinner is a modern invention.

“There were no dairy products, which became popular in the sixties, and fruit was not considered suggestive either.

The popular and rural classes did not eat dinner and were content with only one meal a day, that of midday.”

On the other hand, eating out was not common until the 1920s.

Although the first hotel restaurants appeared at the end of the 19th century, it was not until then that large cafes appeared, such as Fornos (Madrid) or Suizo (Barcelona), and American bars, such as Perico Chicote.

“People ordered a coffee with half a piece of toast, a sandwich or a steak and potatoes.

That is when the combined plate was invented, a quick lunch option for many office workers of the time,” adds Castro.

However, the majority of the population ate dinner at home well into their 70s.

When we began to eat dinner as the other important meal of the day (except for those who practice intermittent fasting), some customs were imposed: that if dinner should be lighter, that if we can get by with an omelet, that if it should not eating bread because it makes you fatter more, than if rice at night feels bad... Contrary to popular wisdom, which solidified the idea that forgetting frugality at dinner is harmful, in sayings like "A dinner killed more than Avicenna cured", “Do not look for what died from whoever had roast beef for dinner”, “The graves are full of dinners and sorrows” or “Have lunch like a king, eat like a prince and dine like a beggar”, which Juan José Lapitz collected in

2000 sayings for eating

, (Oñati , 2010), the reality is that our stomach works equally well at any time, as long as we respect its digestion times.

“There is no food that feels worse at night than at midday,” says Aitor Sánchez, dietitian-nutritionist at the Aleris Nutrition Center.

“In any case, what affects nocturnal digestion is the time that passes between eating dinner and going to sleep.

That is why it is advisable to have dinner early and not shortly before going to bed.

The fact that lighter intakes are recommended has only to do with this question of schedule.”

The dietitian-nutritionist specialized in psychonutrition, Ylenia López Llata, explains it like this: “the same food, dish, recipe, with the same ingredients and in the same quantity and way of cooking, feels equally good or bad to us at all 3 of them. in the afternoon than at 9:30 p.m. at night.”

Exercise, good sleep hygiene and a correct hydration habit will be key to feeling good and even to avoiding poor digestion, she remembers.

“Forget what you read out there: simply listen to your body.

If a food suits you, it doesn't matter what time of day you eat it, if you do so with common sense and self-care.

This association that things 'get fatter' or 'feel worse' more after a certain time does not make sense in itself.

If you overdo it in quantity or in excess of fats, sugars or alcohol at meal time, then you will be just as bad when it comes to returning to your work day as if you do it at dinner and immediately go to work. bed".

The cultural factor

Sánchez maintains that the different choices for lunch and dinner have to do with cultural factors, something that varies depending on the country and even with how we have that dish located in our imagination.

For example, in Spain we cannot conceive of eating paella or another rice dish at night, but we have agreed to order

sushi

for dinner or eat three delicious rice in a Chinese restaurant.

“In the same way, patients find it very strange that we give them legumes at night: they have the belief that legumes are more indigestible at night, when this is not true.

On the other hand, no one hesitates to eat a four-cheese pizza and a tiramisu for dinner, which is a much heavier choice than some chickpeas,” says Sánchez.

The nutritionist suggests some simple guidelines to keep in mind, such as not eating too much salt at night, as it will worsen our rest (we will fall asleep worse and, in addition, we will get up in the middle of the night to quench our thirst) or adapt the amount of carbohydrates, both at lunch and dinner, depending on the level of physical activity.

“The recommendations for both intakes are the same in our culture, since we consider them main and complete intakes, and they will always be more voluminous than the rest.

What can help most to build a dinner is to take into account what has been eaten throughout the day and, on the other hand, follow the recommendations of the Harvard plate to structure the portions of vegetables (half a plate), protein (a quarter of a plate) and carbohydrates (the remaining quarter).

López Llata's suggestions are to reduce the amounts of intake: “we don't need to eat so much.

In developed societies we are overfed.

To have that feeling of satiety, and to get to dinner and control the quantities and types of food we eat, it is advisable to eat throughout the day and have at least 5 meals (breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, snack and dinner) or at least respect the rule that no more than 3 or 4 hours pass between meals.”

By default, regardless of the time of day, López Llata ​​recommends healthy foods and ways of cooking, such as baking or grilling, boiling or en papillote.

"If you take something considered to be consumed occasionally, do it punctually and enjoy it, without mixing it with any emotion or considering that 'I deserve it' or 'it's a prize.'"

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