For the last three years I’ve used January to try and learn something new. Three years ago it was to try 31 days of exercise, two years ago it was 31 days of stretching, last year it was 31 days of learning to play the piano and this year it’s 31 days of… lunch.

“Would you like a sandwich?”

Normally, the answer would be “Yes!”. Who would turn down a sandwich?

But there are two times that I aways say “No”. The first time is this week (or any other week when I’ve had a stomach bug). No one wants a sandwich straight after vomiting. It takes a few days to build up an appetite again. From yoghurt to yesterday’s toast to today’s yoghurt and an apple. You can’t jump straight back into a multi-layer club sandwich. You need to build up.

The second time I’ll say “no” to a sandwhich is when that sandwich comes from a buffet. Or, more precisely, it comes from someone else’s buffet. I have no problem with a sandwich spread at a meeting. Someone brings in various sandwiches and I’ll get tucked in. What I object to, what I avoid is when someone asks “Would you like a sandwich – there’s plenty left over from lunch?”

Who wants an unwanted sandwich? If there’s sandwiches left over then that’s because other people have pawed at it to get to the good sandwiches. It’s not leftovers, it’s cast-offs. And who want to eat a second hand cast off?

This especially applies to the Japanese sandwich known as sushi. Never eat cast off sushi. An entire room of people have already looked at the nigri roll of hours old tuna and said “no, I won’t eat that.” Why would I eat it? It’s not just fish that’s been out in a boardroom for the last few hours, it’s unwanted fish. It is charity shop fish. It doesn’t need eaten, it needs binned.

Bread: Nothing

Ingredient: Yoghurt and an apple

Taste: like improvement