Lunch

From Wikinfo

Lunch is a meal that is taken at noon or in the early afternoon. The term is short for "luncheon" (see below). Lunch is sometimes called "dinner" in Great Britain and parts of the United States, Canada and Australia.

Lunch food varies. In some places, one eats similar things both at lunch and at dinner - 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.

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 where one can get a hot meal. In some work locations one can easily go out to eat at a nearby restaurant. Where these conventiences 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 lunch box and brought with. The quintessential lunch food in North America is the sandwich.

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.

Many nutritionists suggest that it is more appropriate to eat a large meal at lunch than it is to do so at supper, just prior to going to sleep, when the energy from the meal will not be properly used.

Continental French for "lunch" is déjeuner, Quebecois French is dîner; in Spanish it is almuerzo, in Italian it is pranzo, in German it is Mittagessen, in Danish it is frokost and in Esperanto it is tagmanĝo (or lunĉo).

See breakfast, brunch, elevenses, high tea, supper, and dessert.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Lunch" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch, used under the GNU Free Documentation License