Spaniards are having dinner earlier

Dinner in Europe can range from 6pm (in Nordic countries) to 10pm in Spain and Italy. Portugal sits in the middle at 8pm, although I have the feeling it is moving towards 9pm. The Fork and CoverManager report that the average dine out in Spain is now before 9pm, and Cataluña's survey reports the same trend. While the reasons for the change are not entirely clear, Marta Junqué Surià, the director of Time Use Initiative, a nonprofit based in Barcelona that advocates for policies around sleep and wellness, pointed to the pandemic, which ruptured old routines, and suggested more people were seeking the health benefits associated with earlier mealtimes. — The 10 P.M. Dinner Is a Spanish Tradition. Are People Giving It Up? by Jonathan Wolfe (NYT) (via Tyler Cohen)