Not what are you having. I mean, what the hell is lunch besides a vehicle for calories and nutrients into my face? A tiresome and often underwhelming distraction from the treading water of my existence? I don’t even remember it most of the time and am punished by hunger pains at 10:30pm as I lie awake in the dark. Unfair!
Breakfast, I understand. Breakfast and it’s hedonistic reinterpretation, Brunch, is, simply put, The Reason. Breakfast is strong creamy coffee, sumptuous carbs on carbs, a spectrum of subtle and bold flavor. Al and where Egg is King has my undying pledge of allegiance. Everything about breakfast puts a warm breeze at your back as you begin the daily work in a cold heartless world.
Dinner, I also understand. Well balanced and diverse nutrients, strong flavors that make sustenance delightful but never too heavy handed. a table where everyone comes together and shares the adventures of the day. The bookend of activity, the welcome to gentler pursuits and bedtime.
BUT. LUNCH?!?!?!?
Cold leftovers? Soggy sandwiches or salads pre-prepped, because who has time to cook at noon on a Wednesday? Or maybe some of you bright things go out to lunch, but come on, it is 2021, wages have stagnated, what do you think I am, a Duke?
Someone please help me save lunch. I need to eat it. I hate it. It does nothing for me unless it’s a peanut butter and jelly and let’s be honest, that’s an always food.
Ok, I’ll bite. If I had to rank the meals I’d the day, I’d say dinner, lunch then a distant distant third is breakfast.
Breakfast is the worst meal of the day. Weird limited options. Heaps of effort when you’ve not even woken up yet. Why are you even hungry? You’ve literally been lying around doing nothing for hours and hours.
Coffee is the only breakfast you need. Maybe an apple.
So, if you frame lunch as the first proper meal of the day then it is way better. As for grim soggy sandwiches - you’re not doing it right. Lunch is the glorious second coming of delicious left overs. Lunch is self indulgent meal for one at a local cafe or takeaway. Why yes, I will have the ‘can, chips and burger’ deal for $10. All the options are available for lunch. The entire breakfast menu, everything from the main menu.
Lunch is a beacon of light in an otherwise crappy day of work. A Tupperware container of joy waiting for you in the filthy office fridge. Maybe you’ll find a sunny spot under tree outside to eat it? Maybe you’ll gossip with work colleagues? The opportunities are endless.
I love lunch, especially with my current ‘work from home’ life. If I had to drop down to two meals a day, I would do breakfast and lunch and skip dinners. Dinners don’t give enough time for digestion afterwards.
Dinner is high stakes, but for lunch, expectations are lower, but anything goes. You can lean into any direction. You can do things inna bowl with strongly flavoured dressings, or soup and bread and be happy.
I love lunch. But I also love dinner. And when SirB is home we have very little distinction between lunch and dinner, eat the same sorts of foods at both.
Ahh see I just can’t get going after taking a break from work. If I stop then I’m really just done. There’s no coming back from letting my guard down for a moment to let joy in.
Leftovers. Hmmm. Hard to say. So often feel like ghostly memories of a meal shared, but maybe that can be savored too. The reality is I probably hate lunch because I know it’s surrounded by work on all sides!
Then again I work at places that use free lunch hour as free for meetings.
Fuck breakfast, it’s too early for that nonsense. Fuck lunch, for all the reasons meow said. Dinner and snacking constantly until bedtime is where it’s at.
You have too few meals listed. Breakfast is my treat after a night’s slog. Fuels the morning.
Morning tea is when the other adult awakens and heralds the time for First Nap. Biscuits, fresh fruit, a hot drink.
Lunch is my main meal. I’m awake, everyone is hungry enough to eat but not so hungry they’re grumpy. A fresh salad from the garden or from the selection of vegetables I prepared on Sunday. If it’s soggy, you need to rethink your prep. Sliced tomato is kept in the fridge on an end from a loaf of bread. Green leaves need air circulation. Carrots should be kept wet. Mix together right before eating.
If lunch is leftovers, I recommend a hearty dish that gets better as flavours are given time to sit. Curries, stews, bolognese sauce based dishes.
Afternoon tea is a break in playtime to refuel with proteins like almond butter, and top with sweetness like black cherry jam. Keeps us going.
Dinner is a tired attempt at a last meal before bedtime to get through the long dark hours ahead. Someone always ends up crying. Often me.
Omg I felt this way until I started breakfast tacos and now I love it. I struggled a lot before I found the tacos because I really had to eat breakfast because I cycled 1 hour (10 miles/16KM) to work in the morning and I had to find some sort of combo of slow-burning carbs and protein to not start eating my classmates when I arrived on campus.
@Meowkins I feel the same about lunch that is boring AF, which is why I meal prep. But after like 80 weeks of eating the same thing for lunch every weekday, I’ve started rebelling against that and finally got sick of it. Yes, I hate lunch so much I was still meal prepping the same thing every day when I worked from home 15 feet from my kitchen.
Last week, I signed up for a week of a meal delivery kit (for which I had a coupon so it was effectively less than groceries for a week) so that I could get some new recipe ideas, because I have gotten very rote with both dinner and lunch and my online searches were boring me. I feel like with some level of return-to-office for me (maybe 1 day a week) I should figure out a new lunch that excites me again,.
I’m with @PDM breakfast is boring and unnecessary. Lunch is glorious. I eat anything and everything for lunch, not just sandwiches and salads but anything I’d have for dinner: sushi, arancini, curry, soup, spicy beef salad and noodles, etc. Brunch is my least favorite meal. Going out for brunch hurts my soul. $20 for EGG and BREAD?! Not to yuck anyone’s yum but don’t get it, lol.
Lunch. That thing that separates second breakfast from the long, dark tea-time of the soul. (You know, any time before dinner)
Lunch for me is generally utilitarian. However, it is always delicious. A microwave and a fridge full of leftovers and I’m set with something amazing in 3-5 minutes. Which is good, because I don’t usually eat between 11 AM and 7 PM. Except when I’m out of leftovers and its 6 cans of tuna and some pickles. This is one benefit of having never lost touch with my teenage self. I’ll eat anything if I’m hungry enough.
I don’t care for breakfast. Coffee is nice. Maybe a handful of almonds. Yes, I eat a large breakfast every morning but I hate it. I never feel like eating until I’ve been awake for several hours.
There’s two kinds of lunch here. Normal lunch, where anything will do, and post training lunch. Post training there had better damn well be enough food to feed a small village, otherwise I will be lethargic, hangry, yet unable to rest. Why yes, I am eating half a jar of peanut butter, 8 eggs, and a pint of rice. I’m not weird, you’re weird.
Working lunches. A luxury.
First breakfast
Then elevenses or snack.
Finally a proper meal. Mango salad, green curry. It’s late enough for cold pop, iced tea, bubble tea, kombucha or wine. Not too late for iced coffee, cinnamon oat latte or a pot of tea. Maybe it’s french toast. Pita pizza. Adults can eat chicken nuggets and tater tots at lunch without shame. Poutine by the lake. Leftover curry. Kraft dinner.
At work, oatmeal layered with jam, flax, hemp and chia seeds. Or sharing a wheel of brie and an apple with your work bestie.
Virtue signaling a green smoothie.
Breakfast sandwiches
Devouring banana chocolate chip muffins with cheese and tea.
And knowing that you are just a quick hop from afternoon snack.
Lunch is all about desire. Like the afternoon slow burn.
Today I spent the time and effort on a nice lunch. Udon and chicken and broccoli stir fried in peanut sauce. It was delicious and satisfying. Will I do this again? Maybe, but not regularly. It was nice, though. I admit that you lunch people aren’t completely wrong.
