It is the debate which has divided generations, but hotel chain Travelodge claims to have definitively settled whether the Scots’ evening meal is dinner, tea or supper.
Three-quarters of Scots say the evening meal should be called “dinner”, according to their new study.
Fewer than one in five Scots (19%) think the evening meal should be called “tea”, with a tiny number (6%) claiming it is “supper”.
And the survey has gone beyond the main meal to find that just under half (45%) of Scots call the final course “dessert”, while 39% prefer to call it “pudding”.
The remaining 16% called it “sweet” or “afters”.
Other key findings are that one-third (33%) of Scots reported “posh” people call evening meal “supper”.
Meanwhile 42% of Scottish adults stated that they call their evening meal the name that has been used in their family over the generations.
The average Scottish family eats at around 7pm, with 25% claiming it is “old-fashioned” to eat before 5pm.
More than half (54%) say they see their evening meal as the perfect time to catch up with their partner and family.
The main topics of discussion over the evening meal are family politics (49%), what happened at work (45%) and what to watch on television (36%).
Travelodge spokeswoman Shakila Ahmed said: “Our Bar Café team members regularly debate whether the evening meal should be called ‘dinner’ or ‘tea’.
“Therefore we thought it would be interesting to put this age-old argument to bed by asking the nation.
“Interestingly our research findings show that for the majority of the Scottish nation, it’s definitely dinner.”
See comment on page 30
