United States, lunch refers to a meal eaten between 11:00am to 1:00pm. Many times this meal is a lighter, and quicker to prepare meal such as soup, salad and sandwiches. Other parts of the United States (such as "parts" of the south) consider lunch to be only food eaten from a bag. If the meal is a hot meal at the table then this would be called Dinner, even though it is eaten at the same time as "Lunch" (between 11:00am to 1:00pm). To most southerners, the meal at night would be called Supper where in the North, the meal at night is called Dinner. In the south, lunch time is never the largest meal of the day like it is for some countries. In the south the last meal of the day is the largest meal. Yesssss it can be a bit confusing that's true!
Now wikipedia tells us this- "Lunch food varies." "In some places, one eats similar things both at lunch and at supper - a hot meal, sometimes with more than one course." "In other places, lunch is the main meal of the day, supper being a smaller cold meal."
Lunch Practices: by wikipedia
Many people eat lunch while at work or school. Employers and schools usually provide a lunch break in the middle of the day, lasting as much as an hour. Some workplaces and schools provide cafeterias, often called canteens, where one can get a hot meal (in British schools female staff who serve lunch are often known as "dinner ladies"). In some work locations one can easily go out to eat at a nearby restaurant. Where these conveniences are not available it may be impractical to make lunch the main meal of the day. In these cases relatively simple foods might be packed in a container, such as a bag or a lunchbox, and taken to work or school. Many worksites are visited regularly by catering trucks, which provide lunch.
The Bag Lunch
The quintessential bag lunch (also, brown bag from the brown paper sack used to carry it) in North America of the past has consisted of a sandwich and often a whole fruit and either cookies or a candy bar. But now, the near-universal spread of the microwave oven to the workplace since the 1980s has changed the nature of workers' lunches considerably. Leftovers from home-cooked meals, frozen foods, and a huge variety of prepared foods needing only reheating are now more common than the sandwich lunch.
Brown bag lunch example: chicken salad sandwich, a pear, carrot sticks, and milk.
A similar tradition exists in Britain, where schoolchildren and workers bring in a prepared lunch in a lunchbox. This will usually contain, at the least, a sandwich, a bag of crisps and a drink, possibly with a chocolate bar and some fruit. However, this is now changing in the workplace due to the ubiquity of small cafés in cities as well as the microwave. It remains common in schools and among builders where such facilities do not exist on-site.
In Australian primary and high schools, most children bring a lunch box that contains a morning snack for recess (usually fruit or a muesli bar) and a sandwich for lunch.
Lunches also serve as a popular reward in settling wagers. This is typical in an office setting where buying a coworker lunch to settle a wager is the normal method of payment. Generally there will be a cap on the amount the buyer should spend on the lunch.
On weekends in the United States it is popular to combine a late breakfast with lunch, called a "brunch". Brunches often feature more elaborate fare than ordinary breakfasts, and may include desserts and alcoholic beverages, such as mimosas, which are not ordinarily served with breakfast.
Purpose
In addition to its primary purpose, lunch can function as a form of entertainment, especially on weekends; a particularly fancy or formal lunch can be called a luncheon. Such lunches can be served at a restaurant, as a buffet or potluck, or as a sit-down feast. These events are very similar to festive suppers. Lunch, both simple and fancy, often includes dessert.
is by hosting a great Lunch!
Many nutritionists suggest that it is more appropriate to eat a large meal at lunch than it is to do so at supper, just before going to sleep, when the energy from the meal will not be properly used. An example of this style of meal can be found in the German, Brazilian and Scandinavian diet, whose lunch mostly is large and cooked (as opposed to, say, a sandwich).
In a full cricket match that lasts more than one day, there is a luncheon interval in each day's play, usually taken between 12:30pm and 1:30pm. In one-day matches the break is taken between innings.
In other languages
A traditional Bengali luncheon is a seven course meal. First course being 'shukto', which is a mix of vegetables cooked with less amount of spices and topped with coconut icing. Second course consists of rice, dal and a vegetable curry. The third course consists of rice and fish curry. The fourth course is that of rice and meat curry (generally chevon, mutton, chicken or lamb). The fifth course contains sweet preparations like rasgulla, pantua, rajbhog, sandesh etc. The sixth course consists of payesh or mishti doi. The seventh course is that of paan, which acts as a mouth freshener.
Two street vendors taking time out for lunch at a makeshift table of wooden crates covered with newspaper. New York, August 1946.
In French the midday meal is called déjeuner, taken between noon and 2 p.m. It is the main meal in the South of France. The evening meal is the main meal of the day in Northern France but lighter in Southern France, taken around 6 - 7 p.m. (North) or 8 (South), is called dîner or souper (though the last one is used too to call a night-time meal, usually after 11 p.m.).
In Canadian French lunch is known as dîner. The Anglicism lunch means an invitational light meal usually eaten while standing and not necessarily around noon. It is offered for example in vernissages.
In Arabic it is ghathaa', a modified derivative of the word ghithaa', a general descriptive word of 'food'. Normally it is eaten between 2 and 4 p.m.
In Lithuanian it is pietūs and is the main meal of the day. The word lunch is translated as priešpiečiai (meaning pre-dinner) and would be brunch.
In Welsh it is tocyn but this also means snack. "Cinio" can also be used to describe lunch, however "cinio" can also be used to describe the evening meal alongside with supper.
In Esperanto it is "tagmanĝo".
In Portuguese it is almoço. The word lanche refers to afternoon tea. It usually consists of a full hot meal, similar to dinner, normally with soup, a meat or fish course, and desert.
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