"La Once", a Chilean food tradition.

It took me a few days to figure out what "la once*" (pronounced "on-say") was, when I arrived in Chile, a year ago. I would wait for a "supper time" that'd never come...
Hosted by a middle-class Santiago family, I've had the best opportunities to find out about food and traditions. And this one is my favourite! Instead of eating supper at night, people get together around the table, between 6pm and 8pm to have something of an "improved tea time". Tea or coffee in big cups, little freshly baked breads or toasts, butter, jam are the regular elements we find on every Chilean table for "la once". But most likely, you would also see cheese, ham, scrambled eggs, little cookies, mashed avocados, fruit salad etc. And it's very common to share this meal with visiting friends or neighbours ...which gives this great tradition the cosy atmosphere of a night brunch.

* But why "once" ("eleven" in Spanish)?
Tradition has it that long ago men that wanted to drink their liquor, or "aguardiente" in Spanish, during the time of day that is now "Once" invented a code to hide the fact that they were drinking at 5:00 in the afternoon. This code was the number of letters in "aguardiente" which is eleven or "once" in Spanish. With the passage of time, tea time became known as "Once."
(credit: www.joeskitchen.com)

(c) Lau