Last week, a friend suggested we catch up for lunch. I love lunch! I agreed. The friend suggested we catch up at a fancy burger joint for our lunch. I love burgers!

I declined.

You call that lunch? Hold the fries … and the burger.Credit: Simon Schluter

Burgers, you see, are a dinner food. And it is unacceptable to eat dinner foods for lunch.

There are rules to meals. There is an order to the culinary universe. Breakfast is cereal or toast with toppings, lunch is a sandwich or a salad, and dinner is everything else. Meat, vegetables, pastas, stir fries, pizzas, pies and, of course, burgers, can only be eaten in the evening.

OK, so it’s slightly more complex than that, but the laws are intuitive. Like the rules of grammar, you simply pick them up as you go. For example, two pieces of toast with toppings makes for a classic Australian breakfast. But two pieces of fresh bread encasing a filling is a sandwich, and a sandwich is lunch. Eggs are definitely........

© Brisbane Times