When I lived with the Amish in the 1980’s, dinner, the main meal, was the largest and main meal of the day. That was somewhat true even of the school children. They carried “dinner pails” to school with lots of food. In winter, there would always be a hot main dish cooked in the heating stove, like hearty soup or stew. Children would bring food wrapped in foil to place on the stove. By “dinner break” it was cooked, and the school always smelled delicious in cold weather! Dinner was a full hour and a quarter, lots of time to eat, socialize, play afterwards, or even lie down in the attic on the matting with a shawl for a nap.
Breakfast would be hearty, but not huge. Usual was oatmeal or fried corn mush, fried eggs, sausage or scrapple, bread, butter, milk, maple syrup or molasses for sweetener, coffee for the older folks. After evening chores was supper, the lightest meal of the day. It’d be milk soup maybe with a can of corn, diced potato, or peas cooked in, basic milk soup was milk, butter, salt, pepper, and a bit of corn starch or leftover mashed potato, corn mush, croutons or bread in some form. A glass of water or herbal tea. That’s it, because once the dishes were made away, everyone went to the living room for the Bible readings, night prayers, followed by bedtime around 8:00, or 9:00 in summer. The adults and older teens got up early, about 4:00 AM to milk the cows, Mom about 4:30 to pack school dinners, start breakfast, make preparation for the day’s work, followed by the scholars around 5:00 to do their chores, gather eggs, feed cows and horses, make beds, help in the kitchen like set the breakfast table, change the baby’s diaper, get the little ones up, hands and faces washed, dressed, about 5:30, 6:00 was morning prayers followed by breakfast, scholars would wash up, change to school clothes, head out for school by 7:00. School took up at precisely 8:00. Those who weren’t seated and ready to work at 8:00 were tardy. Depending upon the weather, more or less time was needed to walk to school.
It was a totally different lifestyle and the eating schedule suited it.
When you've had meals that large for both breakfast and "dinner" (i.e., lunch), you don't
want all that much for the evening meal.
And at least by modern standards, I'd call a breakfast such as you describe pretty "huge". It's considered a mark of sophistication by some urbanites to have just a small collation for breakfast, or to skip it entirely. Count me out on that, breakfast is very often my largest meal of the day. Country come to town, I suppose...
Topic: Do you commit gluttony if you eat till you feel full? (multiple times a day) (Read 10877 times)