That's probably very country specific, because I've not seen that happen and would also never do it myself.

We get a 1 hour lunch break required by law and yet people still do this willingly.

I often would rather go home from work an hour earlier than sit and eat lunch for an hour. It's as simple as that, really.

Actually no, it's not "as simple as that" when everyone except you doesn't take lunch hour and schedules meetings at noon. We have a right to the lunch hour.

Then decline those meetings. Doesn't mean that other people should have to waste an hour of their day that they could better spend at home in the evening.