For the album by UK band Audience see Lunch (album). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010) Part of the Meals series Common meals Breakfast  Brunch  Lunch  Tea  Dinner  Supper Components & courses Amuse-bouche  Appetizer  Cheese  Dessert  Drink  Entre  Entremet  Fruit  Main course  Nuts  Salad  Side dish Related concepts Banquet  Buffet  Cuisine  Eating  Etiquette  Food

Luncheon commonly abbreviated to lunch is a mid-day meal.1

In English-speaking countries during the eighteenth century lunch was originally called "dinner" a word still used regularly to mean a noontime meal in Scotland Ireland Wales and some parts of England and also in some parts of Canada and the United States. Typically businesses will use the standard word "Lunch" when referring to the noon meal to avoid confusion due to the cultural domination of Standard English.

The mid-day meal on Sunday and the festival meals on Christmas Easter and Thanksgiving (in the U.S. and Canada) are still often eaten at the old hours usually either at noon or between two and four in the afternoon and called dinner. Traditional farming communities also may still commonly have the largest meal of the day at mid-day and refer to this meal as "dinner."citation needed Contents 1 Origin of the term 2 Around the world 3 Working lunches and lunch breaks 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Origin of the term

The abbreviation lunch in use from 18231 is taken from the more formal "lunchentach"2 which the OED reports from 1580 as a word for a meal that was inserted between more substantial meals.

In medieval Germany there are references to nuncheontach a non lunchentach according to OED a noon draught of ale with bread an extra meal between mid-day dinner and supper especially during the long hours of hard labour during haying or early harvesting. In Munich by the 1730s and 40s the upper class were rising later and dining at three or four in the afternoon and by 1770 their dinner hour in Pomberano was four or five.3 A formal evening meal artificially lit by candles sometimes with entertainment was a "supper party" as late as Regency times.

In the 19th century male artisans went home for a brief dinner where their wives fed them but as the workplace was removed farther from the home working men took to providing themselves with something portable to eat at a break in the schedule during the middle of the day. In parts of India a light portable lunch is known as tiffin.

Ladies whose husbands would eat at the club would be free to leave the house and have lunch with one another though not in restaurants until the twentieth century. In the 1945 edition of Etiquette Emily Post still referred to luncheon as "generally given by and for women but it is not unusual especially in summer places or in town on Saturday or Sunday to include an equal number of men" hence the mildly disparaging phrase "the ladies who lunch." Lunch was a ladies' light meal; when the Prince of Wales stopped to eat a dainty luncheon with lady friends he was laughed at for this effeminacy.3 Afternoon tea supplemented this luncheon at four o'clock from the 1840s.3 Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management had much less to explain about luncheon than about dinners or ball suppers: The remains of cold joints nicely garnished a few sweets or a little hashed meat poultry or game are the usual articles placed on the table for luncheon with bread and cheese biscuits butter etc. If a substantial meal is desired rump-steaks or mutton chops may be served as also veal cutlets kidneys or any dish of that kind. In families where there is a nursery the mistress of the house often partakes of the meal with the children and makes it her luncheon. In the summer a few dishes of fresh fruit should be added to the luncheon or instead of this a compote of fruit or fruit tart or pudding. Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management Typical Swedish school lunch Around the world This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (April 2010) This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)

In France the mid-day meal is taken between noon and 2 p.m. It is the main meal of the day in the South of France. The evening meal is the main meal of the day in northern France.

In the Netherlands it is common to eat sandwiches for lunch: slices of bread that people usually carry to work for eating in the canteen in school or at the work place. The slices of bread are usually filled with sweet or savory foodstuffs such as apple syrup pindakaas or cheese. The meal typically includes coffee or milk. It is eaten around noon. In Hungary lunch is traditionally the main meal of the day following a "leves" soup. In Denmark lunch consists of a light meal. Often it would be rye bread with different toppings like liver pate herring and cheese. In Finland and Sweden lunch is a full hot meal served as one course optionally with small salads and desserts. Dishes are diverse ranging from meat or fish courses to soups heavy enough as standalone meals and school diners occasionally serve even porridges. Workplaces have cafeterias that serve lunch from 11 a.m. to about 1 to 4 p.m. usually as a buffet with 1-4 dishes to choose from. Schools serve school lunches that are free of charge to pupils. In Spain lunch takes place between 1:30 p.m and 3:00 p.m earlier in northern Spain and later in southern Spain where it can take place as late as 4:00pm (in contrast supper does not usually begin till 8:30-10pm. It is nonetheless the main meal of the day everywhere and usually consists of a three course meal similar to a dinner. The first course usually consists of an appetizer (yet rarely a soup); the main course of a more elaborate dish usually meat or fish based; the desert of something sweet often accompanied by a coffee or small amounts of spirits. In Portugal lunch consists of a full hot meal similar to dinner normally with soup a meat or fish course and dessert. A traditional Bengali lunch is a seven course meal. The first course being 'shukto' which is a mix of vegetables cooked with few spices and topped with coconut icing. The 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 (sweet yogurt). The seventh course is that of paan which acts as a mouth freshener. In Israel lunch is eaten between 2 and 4 p.m. and is the main meal of the day. Working lunches and lunch breaks American President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper with aides during a working luncheon in the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa in 2009. Since lunch typically falls in the middle of the working day it can either be eaten on a break from work or as part of the workday. The difference between those who work through lunch and those who take it off could be a matter of cultural social class bargaining power or the nature of the work. Also to simplify matters some cultures refer to meal breaks at work as "lunch" no matter when they occur -- even in the middle of the night. This is especially true for jobs that have employees rotate shifts. See also Mahlzeit References a b Online Etymology Dictionary OED gives a first usage in 1591. a b c McMillan Sherry (2001). "What Time is Dinner". History Magazine. http://www.history-magazine.com/dinner2.html. Retrieved 2007-08-11.  External links Look up lunch in Wiktionary the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lunch Bento Business A British site about the quintessential Japanese lunch the bento box with pictures of authentic Japanese lunches. 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