Mealtime Definitions

Dinner is usually the name of the main meal of the day. Depending upon culture, dinner may be the second, third, or fourth meal of the day. It is still occasionally used for a noontime meal, if it is a large or main meal.

Dinner was the first meal of a two-meal day with the dinner heavy meal at noontime. The word is from the Old French disner, meaning "breakfast."

More meals were added and the morning meal became breakfast, because we 'break the fast' of not eating since the day before. Eventually, dinner shifted to referring to the heavy main meal of the day, even if it had been preceded by a breakfast meal. The (lighter) meal following dinner has traditionally been referred to as supper

Luncheon, commonly abbreviated to lunch, is a midday meal, and is generally smaller than dinner, which is the main meal of the day whenever dinner is eaten. The origin of the words lunch and luncheon relate to a small meal originally eaten at any time of the day or night, but during the 20th century gradually focused toward a small meal eaten at midday.

So, there it is - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner for some. Others say it is Breakfast, Dinner, Supper. Still others say Breakfast, Lunch, Supper. None of these are to be confused with Brunch, which is a combo of the words breakfast and lunch. Snacks are not meals, so they contain no calories.

English School Lunches

The chairman of England's School Food Trust (part of the Department of Education), said parents are hampering efforts to cut obesity in children by sending them to school with crisps (chips), fizzy drinks, and biscuits. He also suggested chocolates, crisps, and sugary drinks could be banned in packed lunches altogether by tightening the rules on what children can bring into school.

The chairman said the best solution would be for parents to pay for their children to eat healthy hot meals in canteens rather than giving them lunch boxes. Stricter measures on what can be included in school dinners were implemented by the Trust five years ago, but he said many middle class parents remain unconvinced that packed lunches are less healthy than canteen meals.

Parents' groups, however, said the Trust and the government should "get off our backs" and stop attempting to prescribe to parents what they can and cannot feed their children.