136 CultureShock! Chile
people can go home and have lunch with their families. Most
businesses in the larger cities stay open all day.Once
The third meal of the day, once, is at 5:00 pm, not 11:00 pm
as the name implies. It is afternoon tea with bread and jam,
sandwiches, pastries or a cake. It is very typical for children
and adults alike to invite people over to share once.A Teatime Tale
There are at least three versions of how teatime got its name in
Chile. The first version claims that it is named after the time that
the British have their tea—11:00 am. Another version claims that it
is named after a variety of English biscuits called elevenses that the
British served with their tea. The third version says that at teatime the
men went to the kitchen or back room to have a sip of aguardiente,
a grape spirit, instead of tea. However, the men didn’t want to say
that they were drinking liquor. Since the word aguardiente has 11
letters, they called it once.Dinner
Dinner in Chile is referred to as la comida and not cena as
in many other Spanish-speaking countries. Only in rural
areas, particularly in the South, will you hear the word cena.
Dinner is typically served at 8:00 pm if there are young
children, or later if the children are older. If you venture into
a restaurant before 9:00 pm you will find it quite empty.
They only spring to life after this seemingly late hour so
don’t expect to eat dinner out at 5:30 pm if that is your
normal routine. Normally, dinner is one main dish, which
tends to be interchangeable with those served as a main
course for lunch. The meal is substantial and foreigners may
find it too heavy to eat at such a late hour.MAIN COURSES
Seafood
As you can imagine, due to the geography of the country,
there is an incredible variety of seafood available. Typical
seafood dishes include: choritos (blue mussels), pulpo
(octopus), erizos (sea urchin), cochayuyo (seaweed), picorocos,