Let’s address a common myth about Spanish eating habits, which is that they have dinner at 10pm every day.

The Spanish don’t have dinner at 10pm, at least not dinner as we know it.

You see, the Spanish dinner is a bit different. In the US, the UK, and many other countries, the dinner is the main meal of the day. That is, it’s the biggest meal and everyone comes together at the table after a day at work or school. When people eat dinner out, it often has a touch of formality to it.

In Spain, this is not the case. Dinner is not the biggest meal of the day, and it’s often more casual than the others. It’s usually light: there’s minimal meat, and salad, croquettes, tortilla, rice, stews, fruit and yoghurt are the staple foods.

In fact, dinner can be eaten alone, and often it consists of just a yoghurt and fruit. You might call it supper rather than dinner.

What you must understand is that for Spaniards, the main meal is lunch, which they tend to have between 2 and 3pm. It’s the biggest meal of the day, in most cases. They then have a sandwich or tapas to tide them over.

Traditionally, the Spanish have their own their timetable for school and work too. They start at 8 or 9 in the morning until around 2 o’clock, then start again at 5 and work until 7 or 8. This reflects the fact that during summer time it gets unbearably hot in most of the country. This is when people go home for their main meal and follow it up with a siesta before returning to their work or studies.

It might also come from the days of agriculture, which are more recent in Spain than in other developed countries. The husbands and sons would return home from their early start before the hot mid-afternoon sun appeared, have lunch, and then rest their heads before enjoying the rest of the day as they wished.

This traditional way is starting to disappear as people want a greater work-life balance and business becomes ever more globalised and standardised.

Whatever the explanation, the eating habits remain largely the same. It’s not so much that they have dinner late, but that they have supper late. And no, they don’t eat paella every day either.