To not understand the obsession with ‘hot meals’?

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As in “kids need to have a hot meal”, “They haven’t had a hot meal today” etc

Is it just short-hand for a more substantial meal or do people think there is some magic about food being hot that makes it more nutritious?

Is, for instance, a tuna pasta bake superior to a tuna sandwich? Or sausage and mash better than ham salad?

Loving the historical/cultural explanations of the hot meal obsession -they make a lot of sense!

If you only feed your child sandwiches, watch out for ss.
Oh no! I forgot! The middle classes are completely immune to ss.
Bloody double standards again and again.
Only feed kids sandwiches, no problem
Dress kids in cheap rags with holes in them, no problem
No coat to school after 12yo, no problem

Only the wc need to ensure their kids are well dressed, coated and fed hot meals. Happy to do it, of course, but it does annoy me that the MC dont, and yet if I didnt I'd be in big trouble.

Perhaps, but posters on MN (I've never encountered this IRL) seem to think hot = more nutritious, when that's not the case.

I’ve encountered it a little in IRL but definitely on MN a lot, to the extent of posters being absolutely emphatic that a overworked mum simply MUST provide a hot dinner in the evening if their child has had a cold lunch. Or obsessing over sending in a ‘flask of soup’ with a packed lunch because heaven knows what might happen if they don’t consume something above room temperature.

Well I’ve never managed to persuade my working class teens to wear a coat but are you really saying you know middle class people who only feed their DC sandwiches and dress them in rags with holes?

Where do we stand on hot sandwiches: bacon butty, sausage bap, fried egg sandwich, hog roast in a bun. Is it a hot meal? Or a sad excuse for a meal?

Hot food tastes better because cooking it releases smells and that aids our taste. It also stimulates our hunger more because of the smells again, it takes longer to eat because its hot and is generally just more satisfying.

Plus you can get greater variety with hot food, the majority of meat/pulses require cooking plus most carbs and a solid proportion of veg. You can get a greater mix of flavours that's than just some cold chicken with some cold salad. A tuna sandwich is fine but you can't have a tuna sandwich twice a day for 7 days, in order to build variety into the diet you need to cook

I wouldn't really say it's an obsession but I think the majority of people prefer hot food over cold, especially in the UK where its hot one week a year

are you really saying you know middle class people who only feed their DC sandwiches and dress them in rags with holes?
Maybe that poster lives backstage at a school production of Oliver!, you just don’t know

@hotmeatymilk

Where do we stand on hot sandwiches: bacon butty, sausage bap, fried egg sandwich, hog roast in a bun. Is it a hot meal? Or a sad excuse for a meal?

I personally, don’t stand on them. I’m heavy and they flatten far too easily. I shove them in my facehole and demolish them that way.

How would ss know what your kid had for tea? They don’t do spot checks do they?! I regularly give mine crumpets on a hobby night (hot- I toast them but largely bcs I store them in the freezer so would seem mean not to...)

And those saying cheese on toast fills you more than a cheese sandwich, or any equivalent hot and cold, well they actually do. It takes less of the food energy to digest when hot, so more goes on making you feel full.
And the two biggest issues for families in temp homeless hotels are always reported as nowhere to cook hot food and sit and eat it, and proper study areas for homework. So having a hot meal seems to still be very important in our pysci.

@RachelHasThoseInBurgundy You’ve just reminded me of the excellent Italian picnic sandwich where you stuff loads of things in the bread then flatten it under a big pile of books

Hmmm not sure

I like a hot meal, especially in winter. Salad is fine in summer for lunch, but I’d want a cooked meal in the evening (and would be the one making it!)

Is it to do with combining the ingredients or releasing a something or other? I’m not sure!

It’s just nicer in my book! But doesn’t have to be every meal.

are you really saying you know middle class people who only feed their DC sandwiches and dress them in rags with holes?

This made me laugh!

I am heartily glad I didn't grow up looking forward to nothing but a sandwich or cold salad in the evening. Evening meals are for me something tasty that would smell nice cooking and fill us up in a comforting way. Even with working parents it wasn't ever a cold plate of anything. It's part of settling down for the night to have a warm dinner! Even beans on toast is better to feel a bit nurtured than a blooming cold butty as a kid!

I’m now thinking I want something really warm and wintry for dinner tomorrow. Might have to pester my mum to make my some of her Irish stew. 😋

Cheese on toast with baked beans is a great meal

Cheese on toast is a small meal or lunch

Or a snack … best snack ever

Ah!! I’ve just realised I have some in the freezer! Fucking WIN!! 😂

If prefer a e.g. Chips, and beans ect sat around a lot burner, but if it's salad sandwiches ect, I'd still enjoy it, but I guess it varies.

@Ozanj that’s really eye opening, and important for everyone to understand.

Yours and other similar posts.

*log

Hot log?

I’m a teacher and have never understood this obsession. I teach P1 and have to help them with lunch at the start of every year. The majority of them wouldn’t eat the hot lunches provided so would go hungry when all they wanted was a ham or cheese sandwich 🤦🏼‍♀️

I only eat hot meals in winter. Cold in summer. I don't want salad in winter l want soup.

I work outdoors and nothing beats coming home in winter and having a hot meal - soup and a toasted sandwich, casserole with dumplings, toad in the hole, pasta bake...warm food is like a big hug

But it doesn't have to be big meals - today I had a small potato with cheese and beans, for example. It felt much nicer and more filling than a cheese sandwich would have done.