Essen does not mean "eating" in this context. You mixed up the word "Essen" (meal, food) with the word "Essen" (noun of the word "essen" [to eat]), which mean

Essen does not mean "eating" in this context. You mixed up the word "Essen" (meal, food) with the word "Essen" (noun of the word "essen" [to eat]), which means eating. So translated word for word, "Mittagessen" also means "noon meal". Edit: You could go one step further and make it "mid day meal".