食べ物だ。（たべものだ。） [ta-be-mono da] "Is food." There are a variety of words for "meal," such as 「ごはん」 [go-han] which can also mean "rice." めし [meh-shi] is sometimes used as semi-vulgar slang (meaning its use is restricted to in-group or close friends). However, by adding 「や」 the resultant 「飯屋」（めしや） [meh-shi-yah] means "restaurant" or "place of meals." Often times, the loanword レストラン（れすとらん）[re-su-to-rann] is used as a one-to-one replacement for "restaurant." For different meals in the day, breakfast is 「朝ごはん」（あさごはん）[a-sa-go-han] and Lunch is 「昼ごはん」（ひるごはん）[hi-ru-go-han]. Dinner is 「晩御飯」（ばんごはん） [ban-go-han]. Morning meal, noontime meal, and evening meal, respectively. Often times the short form 食事（しょくじ）[shoku-ji] is used in a similar way to the American use of the word "grub" or "chow."