The Problem with Lunch

When my kids were little, one of their favorite meals was breakfast for dinner—especially when it was a high carb meal: waffles, pancakes or french toast. My brother Mark frequently ate cold pizza and diet coke for breakfast. People eat breakfast food for dinner or dinner food for breakfast but hardly ever do people eat lunch food for breakfast or dinner—or at least I have never observed this behavior.

It is noon. It is lunchtime.  Lunchtime is my least favorite meal of the day. It is the meal I am most likely to skip.

When I am by myself at home, I typically do the following. I look at the clock, realize that it time to eat, and then open the refrigerator and stare—as if what I am craving will jump up and down and say pick me pick me. And the left overs that want to be eaten feel badly about themselves because even though they are available for the eating, I do not want them. I want something else—I just don’t know what that is. I never know what I do want. I just know what I do not want. And what I want is something tasty, with not too many weight watchers points that I do not have to prepare. I want something good (undefined). Which is why I often have a bowl of Cheerios and a banana--it is perfunctory food--nutritious enough and no bother to fix or consume.

The thing is I never have difficulty coming up with a menu for dinner or even breakfast. Those meals excite me—they are the bookends of the food day. They are the meals that make your heart and taste buds quicken with desire. But lunch—that is the filler meal---the stand in—the substitute teacher of the food world. It is the meal that must be eaten to keep the metabolism fueled.

And even when I go out to lunch with friends, where there is an extensive menu, I still have difficulty—because I don’t want to eat dinner for lunch. Big lunches ruin dinner. And I want to be inspired for dinner—because dinner is my favorite meal. Which is why lunch almost always is a salad with something grilled on top with dressing on the side—it’s the do-no-harm selection.

The only thing lunch has going for it is that once it is completed, dinner can be anticipated. And dinner has limitless possibilities. And when I open the refrigerator to summon my ingredients I feel inspired— I excite in varying the vegetables and proteins to create culinary delight. I chop every onion with tears of joy and roast every vegetable with affection. I look at the clock and count down the minutes until everything is ready. And I enjoy every mouthful and I always think this is so good I will have the leftovers again tomorrow for lunch. That is until it is noon tomorrow and the leftovers discover that  I was leading them on. They were only a one-night stand---I used them for one night of flavor and now I no longer find them appealing.  I am the Mike “the Situation” Sorrentino of food preparation---and the “Sitch” and I both agree that evening treats are just not as tasty the next day—especially when they hang around until lunchtime.