Traditional cultures--eating at night normal?

[Rasa]

I'm going to visit my in-laws soon, so this has been on my mind. They emigrated here from Iran in the 70's but still hold tight to their Persian traditions regarding language, food, and (from what I can tell) socialization and sleep. By this I mean, they drink a LOT of VERY caffeinated tea throughout the day and though I don't think that's necessarily a healthy thing (they seem to have many health issues that would point to excessive caffeine use), it's an integral part of their lives. They do seem to have a siesta-type thing in the afternoon sometimes. They're up late and often eating a sizeable snack (a lot of fruit or yogurt) pretty late--close to midnight. I have tried to politely refuse this custom mainly because I'm just not hungry then (!) but it also just doesn't feel right to me based on what I'm used to. They don't accept polite refusal very well

Anyway...has me wondering about traditional cultures where the concept of 'sleep' may be more fluid and wondering if the eating late may provide a better stabilization of blood sugar, etc.? My dh has adopted this late eating habit (a big bowl of whole milk yogurt with soaked/sprouted grain cereal on top usually) an hour or two before his (very late though not caffeine-induced) bedtime.

I guess I'm just wondering whether eating late is a normal feature of staying up late or normal feature of cultures with a more fluid sleep pattern than the 'go to bed 10ish and sleep through till morning' routine and what effect on health/blood sugar it may have?

[Gingercat]

I had to smile and tell my husband right away when I read your post as here we consider it sooo natural to have a yogurt or any other type of "heavy" snack at midnight or even later (a yogurt is actually a very "light" thing to eat at this time )!

Greeks are night-owls so the typical dinner time is around 9.00-10.00 pm (and in the summer even later!). Lunch is usually served between 2.00-3.00 pm (and we have a big proper lunch, not just a sandwich).

We were actually very very surprised when my sister, who lives in Mid-West, US, told us that there they have their dinner as early as 4.00-5.00 pm!

I guess different cultures have completely different feeding-sleep time schedules.

I do not know whether the Greek way is healthier or not, all I can say is that the average Greek is way slimmer than the average American
(or maybe I do not know the whole story as I've only been to Mid-Western US where obesity is a pretty common thing )

[lach]

I think it is very common in Mediterranean cultures, and that it has a lot to do with the weather. For much of the year, it is far too hot to do much else other than sleep in the middle of the day, so for the most part work stops. Of course, there's still the same amount of work to be done as in more northern climes, so traditionally people work later. And then would eat supper after the work was over.

Even though it's an agrarian thing, you still see it in the area in many more urban places (though much less in the very urban, touristy sorts of places). The first time I went to the region, I was surprised to see so many stores that open at 7am, close at noon, reopen at 4, and close at 7. In the US, the norm for stores is 10-5. It's the same number of hours, just on a different schedule.

Then dinner is about 2-3 hours after work ends, which is more or less the same as here in the States.

[rhiandmoi]

I am 100% un-caffienated, and we don't eat dinner until at least 8pm everyday. I try to eat before 9 so I can get to bed by midnight, but sometimes we do eat after 9. Even on the weekends, we still eat that late, it's hard when we go to other people's homes and they eat early!

I know for me when I used to eat dinner earlier, I had to go to bed earlier too because I either had to eat again at 10 or go to bed. We didn't set out to move dinner later, but I think it is working for us.

[Magelet]

Yup, no caffine, here either and we eat super late. 8-9:30 usually. At work we all eat lunch together at like 2 o'clock, (we have tea and snacks at 11 am), and DP doesn't usually bring lunch, so he eats a snack/late lunch at like 4 when he gets home, and usually we don't eat til 8 at the earliest. For a while, it wasn't unusual to have dinner at midnight or 1 am when I was working til 10:30 or 11. now, 10 is about the latest, since he gets off work before me, and I get off work around 4:30 to 6 most days, 6-7 one night a week. It works pretty well for us, though we would like to go to bed earlier. I would LOVE to live in a place where life is siesta centric. I feel like getting up and working, then eating a big lunch, taking a nap and going back to work, then eating dinner late would work SO well for me. but this is america. our climate might be mediteranian, but our culture is 9-5 and work all the rest of your hours too.

[Arduinna]

yep, in hot desert climates it's pretty common also. That is why in summer we avoid going out much during the day here. Think of Mexico's siesta also.

[ursusarctos]

Well I'm definitely living in an early dinner culture (lunch at 11, dinner at 4 to 6). But there's also a tradition of an evening snack (bread and cheese or deli meat would be common) around 8 or 9 before bed. Some people (like my FIL) even drink coffee then