Why is a sandwich is best food to eat for lunch and why are bacon and eggs a good breakfast but not a good dinner? who decided what should eat for each meal? And if it is because of nutrition, why isn’t the most nutritionly sound foods recomended for every meal?
You know, Deadpenny, I have NO idea who did this dastardly meal planning deal to us!
However, whoever did it,ought to be thanked, 'cause that is what makes it SO fun to have pancakes for dinner! 
Judy
“Um, according to who? Nothing more than a high brow troll, though occasionally the bi polar personality swung in a constructive direction on innocuous topics.” Omniscient
I’m totally unqualified to answer this, but I’ll post a hypothysis.
Most people lived in rural areas. Eggs’n’such were readily available. Since farmers had to get out to the fields, they needed something filling and nutritious, with lots of calories, was quick to prepare, and available on the typical farm.
Legend has it that the Earl of Sandwich “invented” the sandwich so he could eat and gamble at the same time. Getting back to the farm, I don’t know how common sandwiches were there a long time ago; but food often had to be carried out to the field so it had to be portable (say, hard-boiled eggs, some chicken or something, and some bread. A “ploughman’s lunch” was… what? Cheese and bread?) The farmers had had a hearty breakfast and would probably have a large dinner, so a lighter lunch would tide them over without weighing them down.
Dinner often had to be cooked “all day”; think of mutton or a roast. The farmers would work in the fields while the farmwife would cook and do other chores. They could come home to a large meal that was not time-sensitive as breakfast was, nor quick as lunch was.
I’m guessing that this pattern became traditional and was carried over when people moved to the city.
I remember from my high-school German class that the textbook mentioned Germans tended to eat bread, cheese and cold-cuts for breakfast. I don’t have any other evidence for that.
Breakfast around here is a large cup of coffee or two. Weekends there might be cold, left-over pizza. My (ex-)g/f and I would often have tea and croissants, and maybe a bit of bacon, for breakfast.
Anyway, that’s my WAG…
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
Are you a turtle?
I don’t have anything really important to add but this just reminded me of those little animated snippet things that used come on on Saturday mornings (I don’t think it was School House Rock, for some reason my brain is telling me it was something like the flying lightbulb who told people to play it safe around electricity…) Anyway, there was one where the little “helpful hint guy” told kids that it was very important to eat breakfast but that you didn’t necessarily have to eat traditional breakfast foods. He said that so long as the food was nutritious it was a good choice for breakfast. Examples such as chicken and peanut butter sandwiches were given. Therefore, at least as early as the 1970s, the bacon-and-eggs-for-breakfast thing wasn’t necessarily for nutritious reasons.
Brain fart over. Resume intgelligent posting.
I always try to do things in chronological order.
I’ve never had a chicken and peanut butter sandwich. Is that Thai? 
“I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry
Are you a turtle?
Slightly OT…
In many cultures, the biggest meal of the day is at noon, and a smaller meal is had in the evening.
To be persnickety about it, “supper” is the evening meal; “dinner” is the biggest meal of the day. They needn’t be synonymous. “Sunday dinner” traditionally means a big meal served in the early afternoon.
Let’s also not overlook the impact of the Industrial Revolution. More and more people were working away from home. They needed a quick, filling meal in the morning; a portable meal to bring along for lunch (sandwhiches fit the bill nicely); and could only sit down for a big meal in the evening.
“The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured.” Walter Lord
I grew up calling the three meals breakfast, dinner, and supper. My impression is that this is common in many rural areas in the US. Or at least was until the cultural blender called television came along.
evilbeth wrote:
I believe the guy you’re talking about is Timer who had many things to say about food. I don’t remember the breakfast one, but he often talked about healthy snacks.
I hanker for a hunk-a
A slab or slice or chunk-a
A snack that is a winner
and yet won’t spoil my dinner
I hanker for a hunka cheese!
“My mind reels with sarcastic replies!” - Snoopy
Johnny L.A. said:
This is true mostly in farming communities there. From what I remember, the farmers would start their days very early (4:30 or 5:00 a.m.), work for a few hours (till about 8 a.m.), then come in for a breakfast that looks more like our lunch.
At homes in the cities and in suburbia, a common breakfast is now more “continental” in style, i.e., coffee & a croissant or other pastry. No “Wheaties - Breakfast of Champions” or the like.
I’d always heard that he invented the sandwich so that he and his men could eat a quick meal and then get back into battle as soon as possible. I’d always pictured him grabbing a quick ham-on-rye, then sneaking up behind someone who was just sitting down to a formal dinner and beating his brains out 
I think you’re right!!
Johnny L.A.–you should try one–they’re yummy! (Smart-ass!)
I always try to do things in chronological order.
Trion, right on. I remember that, but couldn’t have quoted it exactly.
Also, for those interested, in this day and age when most of us aren’t out there in the world busting our asses in the field to earn a living or doing very physical work, you should probably eat your biggest meal during lunch. Eat more during the day and lighter in the evening. I know, it goes against everything you’ve ever done, but it is the healthiest.
I have a friend who was gaining weight pretty consistently even though he went to the gym regularly. He works until 7 or 8 every night except Sunday and Monday. He’s also a smoker. He used to go out and eat a heavy meal every night after dinner. Anyway, he stopped that, began eating more and snacking during the day, then finishing the night with only a light meal. Still goes to the gym (in the a.m.) and still smokes. He’s lost about 15 pounds in two months.
Studies have also shown that eating the same amount of food at 7 mini-meals instead of 3 main meals tends to make people gain less weight (at least in men).
oops. I Went on a food recommendation rampage again. Can’t help it. My wife is a nutritionist.
~handcrafted signatures since 1975~
I would gain weight too if I went out for a heavy meal every night after dinner.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm…Pizza!
It’s not just for breakfast anymore.
–Kalél
TheHungerSite.com
“If our lives are indeed the sum-total of the choices we’ve made, then we cannot change who we are; but with every new choice we’re given, we can change who we’re going to be.”