Do Americans eat dinner weirdly early?

Is it normal to eat dinner before the sun has fully set? In a thread on r/NoStupidQuestions, a person from Argentina asked if the stereotype of Americans eating dinner between 5 and 7 p.m. is a reality. They also wondered why eating at 9 or 10 p.m. is not the norm in the U.S. (as it is in other places, including Argentina). Redditors weigh in to explain why a 6 p.m. meal feels standard for so many families, and why waiting until late at night might actually be a time zone trick.

The early-morning grind

Aside from sunlight, redditors explain that dinnertime is heavily dictated by rigorous morning routines — most importantly, your livelihood. When jobs and schools start by 8 or 9 a.m., eating a large meal late at night leaves little room for a proper eight hours of sleep (and digestion).

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

A counter-question is "What time do you wake up in the morning?"

It's true that most people in the US eat dinner between 5-7pm but we also wake up earlier. Most people wake up between 6-7 AM for work that starts at 8 AM.

Also there are no work siestas in the US.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

I'm American with public school kids so we have to eat dinner by six at the latest. Middle school (walkable distance) starts at 7:45am, and the bus picks up the younger kids at 8:15am. If they're not headed to bed by 8:00pm and asleep by 9:00pm, they're not getting enough rest. Eating dinner at 9 pm or later would gradually drive us all into literal madness as chronic exhaustion took everyone's sanity. I assume that like...childless young adults might eat late and sleep in or keep irregular schedules or whatever, but that's unworkable for traditional families unless you're homeschooling or something.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

Adults need around 8 hours of sleep. To be at work at 8, often means leaving the house close to 7:30, often earlier. Given an hour to get up, get dressed, wake the kids, get THEM ready, get them off to school, get to work... an hour? HAH, 90 minutes. So you're getting up at 6 am. To get 8 hours you have to be ASLEEP at 10. Ever try to go to bed with a full stomach? at around 6 to 7, have an hour to get stuff cleaned up and put away, take a shower, get the kids ready for bed, and troop everyone off to bed around 9ish.

Are Europeans just really sleep deprived? If you eat at 10, then you aren't going to be ready for bed until at least 11 and that's with a full stomach and, if you're in your fifties, heartburn. If you're getting up at 6 am, you're going to be sleepwalking through the day.

Do Europeans really only get 5ish hours of sleep?!?

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

People generally get up to go to work/school early here, so 9-10pm is a common bedtime.

The missing meal

Some people question how anyone can wait until 10 p.m. to eat without desperate hunger pangs. Foreign commenters note that their daily structure includes specific late-afternoon bites designed to bridge the gap between lunch and a delayed dinner.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

Why do you eat so late is the real question? Don’t you like get hungry? Or like do different cultures or places not eat the same way ? I’m legitimately confused now

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

We have like a second breakfast, that is called “merienda”. So, to summarize, we have breakfast at 7-8am (depending on when you have wake up), lunch at midday or 1pm, merienda at 5-6pm, and dinner around 9-10pm, if not later. For example, restaurants are used to be open until 12pm, some of them until 2am 

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

Yeah, but we also have a meal between lunch and dinner, called "merienda" that helps us push off dinner for a couple hours.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

Usually, kids schools are from 8am-12am or from 1pm-5pm, and you can choose the schedule that best suits you 

The late eaters of North America

Not everyone in or around the U.S. subscribes to the earlier dinner convention. Those who work alternative shifts or juggle busy evening activities point out that pushing dinner past 8 p.m. is their sensible option.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

I'm American and don't tend to eat dinner until 8-9p and I know I am not the norm amongst my friend group. Some of my friends want to eat dinner at 430 and I just can't.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

I’ve been scrolllllling for this comment. For most of my life dinner has been after 7 and usually after 8. Both parents worked, I had after school activities and we would usually have home cooked meals which take time. Eating at or before 6:30 feels so early to me and if I do eat that early I usually need a snack later. As far as bedtime, I try to be in bed by 11, but some nights my partner and I don’t get home from work until after 9 so it can be tough.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

Yeah, a lot of people work first shift and for them it's around six. I work second shift and get off at eight, so it's normal for me to eat at 8:30-9. I'm wondering if the main shift in Argentina is different? Like what time do they wake up, work and go to bed if they eat between 9-10?

The time zone illusion

Several commenters point out that Argentina is geographically offset from its solar time. Because the country observes a time zone further east than its physical location, sunset happens later on the clock than it does in North America.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

It’s worth noting that Argentina is essentially in the wrong time zone. Y’all decided to be on the same time zone as Brazil, even though it's out of whack with nature. So the clock might say 9pm, but the sun says 7:30 or 8.
https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/DHxGqtL3sp

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

This needs to go to the top of the post because the time clock and sun position matter a LOT and I had no clue that 9pm in Argentina would be more like 7:30 in terms of sunlight.

The sun is already setting before 7:00pm where I live and it’s dark by 7:30pm.

Edited to add: US is currently on Daylight Savings Time. If I convert to Standard Time, sunset is before 6:00pm. The sun sets here much earlier on the clock than it does in Argentina local time.

Comment in r/NoStupidQuestions

Isn’t your (and Spanish) habit coming from the fact that you actually use time from a time zone next to the right of you? Meaning your sunsets are very late comparatively 

The timing of evening meals seems to come down to an intersection of geography, culture, biology, and the daily commute. While a 9 p.m. dinner sounds festive to some, it triggers heartburn and sleep loss for others. The dinner plate tells a much larger story about how a society functions on a day-to-day level.

When do you think is an acceptable time to eat dinner? The debate continues in the thread in r/NoStupidQuestions, and find more conversations like this in r/AskAnAmerican, r/culture, and r/CasualConversation.