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.

And done.

Or not done as I’m going to swap this day 31 with Sunday day 33 as I’ve got an interesting lunch to discuss. So, consider this day 30 and a half and day 31 in full will follow on Sunday.

What have I learned so far though?

At first I was curious whether this would even work as a 31 day challenge. Lunch isn’t a challenge. It’s a routine. I would no more write about 31 days of going to the toilet (though there’s an idea!) than I would write about going to bed. Lunch is just lunch, isn’t it?

What I’ve learned though is that by giving just a small bit of attention to something I rarely think about I have looked at lunch in a new way. I’ve enjoyed lunch more when I think more about it. Instead of eating something because that’s what I’ve always eaten, I’ve eaten new things, even if it’s just to add a chutney or to swap a roll for a bagel – and those small changes have a big increase in the pleasure I’ve taken from it.

The second thing I’ve learned is that, without much effort, I’ve rarely repeated a lunch in 31 days. I used to think I had the same things each day. Now I know I do have a variety to what I eat and that it wasn’t difficult to eat something different each day for a month.

Finally, I learned that having a vomiting bug in the middle of a food challenge is the ultimate irony and the universe must like a good laugh. That’s why next year I’m going to start my 31 day challenge of NOT gambling. That’s right, universe, I won’t win the lottery that month. No siree, not me. I want to gamble my life savings and not receive anything in return. So, universe, please don’t think it would be really funny for me to win £100m on the Euromillions during a no gambling month – that would totally ruin my challenge!

Also, just as I finish, I spotted the following thread on Reddit by someone who could be my challenge nemesis – a man who has eaten the same sandwich every day for decades: https://www.reddit.com/r/AMA/comments/1id24iz/i_have_eaten_the_same_food_for_lunch_every_day/

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.

Last night my mum made a stew. And by stew I mean she cut up some carrots, potatoes and meat and boiled it for 12 hours until one ingredient was indistinguishable from the next and the whole thing resembled mud.

It wasn’t beautiful but it was tasty – and it was authentic. My Mum is from the Isle of Lewis and everything she cooks is genuine Hebridean cooking as it comes with a distrust of all herbs and spices, a suspicion for anything not with meat and potatoes or fish and potatoes, and it she has a downright hostility towards cooking anything rare, medium rare, medium or even well done. Heston Blumenthal may like twice cooked chips but in the Hebrides that would only be the first step. We have dozen cooked chips, just to ensure they’re fully cooked.

This approach to Hebridean cooking, learned at my mum’s table over the first 18 years of my life, is why I’m suspicious of the man who calls himself the Hebridean Baker.

I have his cookbook. The first recipe includes a melon. The second involves flash frying a tuna steak. The third is a tiramisu. None of these things were ever found on my mother’s table.

So, when Iain TwinBikeRun sent me a lunch challenge of goats cheese with pomegranate seeds “just like Granny made on the croft” I have to blame the Hebridean Baker. Granny didn’t have goat’s cheese. She didn’t have pomegranate seeds. She didn’t even have a sandwich… unless it was stewed for 10 hours and served with potatoes.

But I had it anyway. Even if it wasn’t authentic.

Bread: Toast

Ingredient: Goats cheese with pomegranate seeds

Taste: Like a Greek restaurant in Inverness

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.

Before starting this challenge I made of list of new sandwiches to make and try. These included:

Tahini, feta & honey toastie

Coronation chickpea sandwich filler

And

Hummus & avocado sandwich topper

And I’ve made none of these so my challenge as I finish the month is to make at least one of them.

Today, I went from a meeting at another office to a meeting in my office and had the easy option of picking up crispy rolls and some hummus

Bread: McGee Crispy Roll

Ingredient: Hummus

Taste: Like a quick break