Universities, schools and hospitals usually have canteens.
Cantina , a term that comes from the Italian language , refers to a place located inside a larger space and in which food and drinks are sold . Beyond the specificity of this definition, in some regions the concept is used as a synonym for tavern .
The Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), in its dictionary , recognizes other meanings. Most of them are linked to drinks and food, and may be different types of places and containers.
An area within another facility
Returning to the first meaning provided by the RAE , the sector that, within another type of larger facility, is dedicated to the delivery of beverages and food products , is called a canteen. It can be said that the canteen offers a specific service to meet the needs of the members, users or partners of an institution.
Let's take the case of a club . This type of entity is approached by those who wish to carry out sports and recreational activities. So that these individuals have the possibility of eating and drinking without leaving the building, the club has a canteen.
A hospital , railway station , university and school may also have a canteen. It is possible to point out, in this framework, that the canteen is an annex or a complement to the main structure.
Sometimes, cantina is used as a synonym for tavern, bar or restaurant.
The canteen as a restaurant or bar
We said above that a cantina can be a tavern . In this way, it is a popular establishment dedicated to the sale and sale of drinks and generally unprepared foods .
The differences between a cantina , a tavern , a restaurant and a bar are subtle. They can even be used as interchangeable notions, like others such as tasca or fonda .
Broadly speaking, it can be said that a canteen is less luxurious than a restaurant. Their dishes, on the other hand, are simpler. Compared to a bar , the canteen offers less variety of drinks. It can also be considered that canteens have lower prices than other businesses in this category.
Despite all this, sometimes there are “conventional” restaurants that call themselves canteens. We can name examples such as Cantina Argentina (located in the Basque city of San Sebastián ) or Cantina Bruno (in Buenos Aires ).
Other uses of the concept
The room in a home used to store drinking water or wine is called a canteen. It can also refer to a piece of furniture used to store glasses and drinks.
The container with lid and cylindrical design to transport milk ; the box with compartments to carry supplies; and the case with divisions for transporting food are also called a canteen.
La Cantina, an archaeological site in Peru
It is interesting to mention that, in the Peruvian province of Casma (department of Áncash ), there is an archaeological site called La Cantina . It was discovered in the 1950s and much of its history is still unknown.
It is estimated that La Cantina developed in the so-called Formative Horizon . Experts believe that the area had a funerary sector and another monumental one.