There is no such thing as a "western meal.". After all, is there such as thing as an eastern meal? There are many countries in the West, and we are all different!

Hello Craig, Historically there is a clear distinction between food prepared in each country of the world. It is not only an eastern/western distinction, but one referring to each individual country. The differences rely on food availability, cooking methods, customs, taboos etc. Even in one country the menus will vary from a region to the other and from a class to the other due to socio-economic reasons. In our postmodern world there is something called the 'fusion cuisine' ,a combination of elements from two or more spatially or temporally distinct cuisines. One of those combination could be an eastern western combo in the form of the so called culinary globalization. If you are asking about a distinctive western dish, you better refer to a certain country in the west in particular. A French 20th century haute cuisine meal or a Spanish Cocido for example?

We eat a lot of things. :) I think you mean something like "meat and two veg"? So you cook the meat, eg. steak, pork chop, lamb, chicken. Then it's served with two or more cooked vegetables - salad is quite uncommon. Common ones are: potato; carrot, pumpkin, brocolli, peas, beans etc. Usually one of each colour (potato, carrot, beans). For side dishes, either more cooked vegetables, or at least fresh bread. Have some kind of gravy for the meat. Which one you choose will depend on the meat. Don't forget dessert! :D