The history of brunch and how it came about is more interesting than you think

“Eh you want to go eat brunch at a cafe or not?”

Brunch has become a pretty common term in our vocabulary and routine in our daily lives. Even though we might not know it, all the meals that we eat in the late morning, around 11am are considered brunch, especially if we do not eat breakfast before or lunch after. Hence, the term ‘brunch’ comes about since it combines ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’, exactly like what the meal it represents does.

For a lot of us, brunch is probably a thing on weekends since we are lazy and sleep in until 11+ (no shame),so we just eat an early lunch to compensate for missing breakfast. But did you know that the origin of brunch is much more interesting than just because people waking up late?

The word ‘brunch’ was first found in an article way back in 1895, so it isn’t really a new concept!

Apparently, it came to be because churchgoers were required to fast before mass and seeing that they would be hungry after not eating for so long, they decided to have a heavy meal after mass in the late morning and skip lunch because they were too full after that.

However, some speculate that it was people got so hungover from a Saturday night of partying and enjoyment that they had to wake up later on Sunday mornings and thus ate a meal in the late morning.

Its popularity was probably helped by how people saw it as an opportunity for them to sleep in later yet be able to wake up to have a pleasant social gathering! The tradition also caught on even better when Hollywood stars in the 1930s made a habit of stopping for late morning meals after long-haul train trips, making it fashionable and trendy.

Nowadays, we think that any meal eaten between the block of morning and afternoon is brunch but did you know that it probably doesn’t count if you ate breakfast before that or lunch after that? Brunch is supposed to be just the one meal that replaces both, but no one’s complaining because lots of us just love to eat, right?

So the next time you invite your friends out for ‘brunch’, remember how the term came about and maybe the history of brunch could make a good conversation topic! After all, it was meant for social situations and I’m sure the inventor of the term would be honored if you discussed it over brunch.

Top Image: Nielskliim / Shutterstock

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com