Adjusting to the Food and Mealtimes in Spain (2024)

FAQs

Adjusting to the Food and Mealtimes in Spain? ›

We do not eat lunch until 3:00 pm, which is a long time to wait to eat if you eat breakfast before class at 7:30 am! Dinner is pretty late too, usually around 9:00 pm. The lunches are the heaviest meal of the day, while the dinners are much lighter.

Very fond of both fish and shellfish, Spaniards are among the world's largest consumers of seafood. Legumes, especially lentils and chickpeas, also form an important part of the Spanish diet. Spaniards frequently drink wine and beer with their meals.

Spaniards are living in the wrong time zone, and have been for more than 70 years. So why are Spaniards living behind their geographic time zone? In 1940, General Francisco Franco changed Spain's time zone, moving the clocks one hour forward in solidarity with Nazi Germany.

These Spanish mealtimes typically include a light bite and coffee first thing in the morning, a more substantial "second breakfast," a hearty lunch, a mid-afternoon snack or merienda, tapas or an aperitif, and a light dinner. What is a normal Spanish breakfast? Many people in Spain actually eat two breakfasts!

Spain's late dining is attributed to various factors, including a workday that extends longer and later than in most European countries, with businesses often closing for a few hours in the afternoon.

The Mediterranean diet. Spain is one of the leading exponents of the Mediterranean diet, which is based on olive oil, fresh vegetables, and other fresh seasonal food. This healthy, flavourful tradition has earned Spanish cuisine UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status.

At home, Spanish meals contain one to two courses and a dessert. The content of this meal is usually a soup dish, salad, a meat or a fish dish and a dessert such as fruit, yoghurt or something sweet. Tapas may also be typically served before or during lunch.

Lunch is the mid-day meal, or la comida as it is called in Spain, and it is the largest meal of the day. It usually comes with multiple courses, eaten between 1:30 and 3:30 pm.

What time do Spaniards go to bed? ›

In addition, Spanish workers typically work 11-hour days, from 9am to 8pm. With dinner at 9pm and a couple of hours of TV, they tend not to get to bed before midnight.

Despite a rise in food availability following the post-lean season harvests, the number of those affected remains alarmingly high. The November 2023 Cadre Harmonisé indicates that 2.3 million people face acute food insecurity, despite the increase in food availability after the harvest season.

Most Spaniards don't rely on a heavy breakfast to start their day, because the most important meal is definitely lunch.

Spaniards eat their lunch, or comida, between 2:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon. Serving as the day's main meal, it is traditionally quite a bit larger than the dinner meal, or cena. The Spanish dinner (cena) is traditionally much smaller than the midday comida.

El Desayuno aka Breakfast

Well, not quite for the Spanish. The El Desayuno or breakfast is even considered the lightest meal of the day. Their typical breakfast consists of strong coffee with milk, cookies, or toast with jam or cheese.

Spanish people's love for food's also seen in the 5-6 meals they've in a day – breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, merienda (evening snack), tapas, or dinner.

Lunch time in Spain: 2-3:30 pm

Lunch will typically begin at 2pm, although at a stretch can start at 1:30pm in some places. From 4pm onwards, restaurants usually stop serving lunch as they run out of options on their menu del dias. Wine or beer is often served with a set lunch menu.

The typical Spanish work day begins at 9am and ends around 8 pm with a 2 to 3h lunch break (the vast majority of workers go home for lunch and enjoy a large meal with their family and rest for a while). Prime-time television doesn't start until 10:30pm. Most people do not go to bed until midnight.

Typically, most Spaniards will eat 4-5 times per day. The main meal of the day will usually be lunch, with a lighter dinner typically served. Here are a few of the typical meal times in Spain: Breakfast number 1 (around 7 am)