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      3 Squares A Day

      February 9, 2011

      Image from iStockphoto.com

      Image from iStockphoto.com

      Fun fact: If I live to be 100 years old (my grandfather just died at 101), and if I eat three square meals a day until I die, I will have eaten 53,655  meals from today forward.   The cumulative lifetime figure will be 109,500 meals eaten. (I’ll let you do the subtraction to figure out my current age.)  That’s a lot of cooking, eating and washing up.

      -Defintion: A square meal is defined as “a substantial, nourishing meal.”

      -History: The phrase can be traced back to the British Royal Navy practice of serving meals on square, wooden plates.  Well, that’s one explanation that a Google search offered.  Others further that, and include: square plates allowed more plates to fit onto sailors’ tables thus allowing more food to fit on a plate making “a square meal” a favorable thing to hungry sailors.  Or this: your dinner plate was a square piece of wood with a “bowl” carved out to hold your serving of the perpetual stew that was always cooking over the fire.  The stew pot was never actually cleaned out.  New ingredients were simply added to old.  (Hence the rhyme, “Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.”)  If traveling you always took your “square” with you.  Or this: the term “square meal” is American slang that dates to the 1800s.  It refers to a large, substantial meal which is filling, satisfying, and usually tasty.

      -Research: Google searches be damned.  I’m going with the explanation provided by The Phrase Finder (which Jeremiah Tower found and sent to me).  The Phrase Finder refutes the square plate, British Navy explanation as folly, and ascribes the phrase to U.S. origin.  “The word square has many meanings, including ‘proper, honest, straightforward,’ and that’s the meaning here.  This isn’t a rectilinear meal on right-angled crockery, but a good and satisfying meal.”  The Phrase Finder goes on to site an early print reference; a California newspaper The Mountain Democrat used the phrase when it ran this advertisement in November of 1856:

      “We can promise all who patronize us that they can always get a hearty welcome and ’square meal’ at the ‘Hope and Neptune.’  Oyster, chicken and game suppers prepared at short notice.”

      I suppose the real origins of the phrase may never actually be known.  And that’s okay.  It’s part of our vernacular.  It’s clear what it means when it’s used.  Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to go and prepare my next ’square meal’ of the day.  Only 53,654 more to go.

      100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

      #1  – The Good Neighbor Cookbook – consider submitting your, or somebody else’s, good-neighbor story to the Meet This Grateful Recipient or Meet This Good Neighbor Cook features on The Good Neighbor Cookbook blog by e-mailing authors Sara Quessenbery and Suzanne Schlosberg at: cooks@thegoodneighborcookbook.com. Let us know if you do by leaving a comment below!

      #2 – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

      My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

      I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

      Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

      9 Comments on “3 Squares A Day”

      1. Kristen says:
        February 9, 2011 at 9:44 pm

        Things have really changed haven’t they? I love the photo and wonder why that typical picture does not resemble my family at all ;-)

        I love the history bit!

      2. Phil says:
        February 10, 2011 at 10:09 am

        When I see this picture, it brings to light the fact that my goal to see more families doing this very thing instead of “Taco Tuesdays” is more than likely just wishful thinking.

        Families are so disjointed now. Suzie has dance class, Billy has soccer practice, Dad’s working late, and Mom’s struggling to keep it all together and work on her career too.

        Do you eat three square meals a day? I can’t remember the last time I did. I tend to eat small bits throughout the day. If I eat breakfast, I probably won’t eat again until dinner. And if I eat lunch, then it’s a light dinner. I think all of this tapas has made my stomach shrink.

      3. 5 Star Foodie says:
        February 10, 2011 at 10:06 pm

        How neat, never thought about where this phrase came from!

      4. Charles Thompson says:
        February 11, 2011 at 2:15 pm

        Kristin: Yes, things truly have changed. That’s why I liked that photo – it’s what the all-American family is supposed to be but isn’t, of course.

        Phil: I think the three square meals has pretty much gone by the wayside. I usually manage 2.5 meals – a decent lunch, a better dinner, not too much for breakfast. But things have definitely changed with families, food, cooking and eating making three square meals a bit old-fashioned.

        Natasha: Always fun to explore the origins of phrases especially food ones!

      5. robert g. says:
        February 11, 2011 at 5:09 pm

        If I had 3 square meals a day I’d be big as a house. That is, not if they were full of fruits and veggies. Thanks for another great post. In many families, just getting one ’square meal’ is a huge challenge!

      6. Sean Sulivan says:
        February 20, 2011 at 2:13 pm

        Eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast OR somekind of pancake or waffle or french toast thing.

        Sandwich w/chips and a Ding Dong or Ho Ho.

        Salad, Meat/veg/potato. Dessert.

        + “afternoon snack”

      7. Charles Thompson says:
        February 21, 2011 at 5:08 pm

        Sean: Thank you for 3 squares a day round up! I love that you eat a Ding Dong OR a Ho Ho as part of your lunch.

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