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The Meals Series
Lunch: A History
Lunch has never been just a meal; the meal most often eaten in public, lunch has a long tradition of establishing social status and cementing alliances. From the ploughman’s lunch in the field to the power lunch at the Four Seasons, the particulars of lunch decisions—where, with whom, and what we eat—often mark our place in the world.
Lunch itself has galvanized political movements and been at the center of efforts to address poverty and malnutrition; the American School Lunch Act of 1946 enforced the notion that lunch could represent the very health of the nation, and sit-ins and protests at lunch counters in the 1960s thrust this space into moral territory. Issues of who cooks lunch, who eats what, and how and when we eat in public institutions continue to spur activists.
Exploring the rich history and culture of this most-observed and versatile meal, Lunch draws on a wide range of
Elias considers the history of lunch not only in America, but around the world to reveal the rich traditions and considerable changes this meal has influenced over the years.
Lunch itself has galvanized political movements and been at the center of efforts to address poverty and malnutrition; the American School Lunch Act of 1946 enforced the notion that lunch could represent the very health of the nation, and sit-ins and protests at lunch counters in the 1960s thrust this space into moral territory. Issues of who cooks lunch, who eats what, and how and when we eat in public institutions continue to spur activists.
Exploring the rich history and culture of this most-observed and versatile meal, Lunch draws on a wide range of
Elias considers the history of lunch not only in America, but around the world to reveal the rich traditions and considerable changes this meal has influenced over the years.
204 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 23, 2014
“Never ‘just lunch,’ this midday meal globally is a nexus of municipal politics, cultural adventure, and assimilation both into and out of dominant national foodways.” (Cultural histories do make silly, overblown statements.) Yet it cannot be denied that lunch is much more than “just a bite to eat, nothing special, only twenty minutes.” This book will convince you that both class and gender influence our eating choices in ways you might never imagine.
It was Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko who in 1987 uttered, “Lunch is for wimps.” And in some ways that does seem true of modern life: it is, ironically, the least physically energetic people who eat the most in the middle of the day. In the developing world, people often eat just once a day, usually in the evenings, with perhaps something small in the morning before they set off for work. We in the West, however, interrupt our sitting in front of a screen to stuff our faces – then go straight back to our screens.
It is interesting to see the ways in which the custom of lunch developed in parallel in different parts of the world. The tradition of pausing agricultural labor in the middle of the day to take a little bread, cheese and beer (the basis of the English “Ploughman’s Lunch”) has been known from ancient Mesopotamia onwards. Nowadays the meal ranges from fast food to office or school canteens; from high-powered Los Angeles business lunches to multi-course family meals at home, followed by a siesta (sounds great).
I enjoyed reading about the array of lunch options around the world: bento boxes in Japan, tiffin boxes in India, and Scandinavia’s famously open-faced sandwiches. This book made for a few pleasant days’ reading over my rather dull lunches, in fact (“Freelancing lunch can blur the boundaries between work and home,” Elias correctly notes).
By far my favorite anecdote comes at the end of chapter 3. In a section of his memoir dealing with the George W. Bush years, White House chef Walter Scheib recounted the President’s rather limited lunch options: BLT, hamburger, grilled cheese, and peanut butter and honey sandwich were the only acceptable options (all with very precise specifications), and no matter which sandwich the chef offered, Dubya would perversely want a different one. Scheib would try to tempt him: “Well, Mr. President, Mrs. Bush is having Grilled Salmon with Endive and Watercress Salad...” but Dubya would childishly demand his PB&H instead. Eventually, in an operation he called “Outfoxing the President,” Scheib set aside a special lunch station where any one of four sandwiches could be made at an instant.
Elias’s is a very thorough, wide-ranging study, though I do feel she missed a trick by leaving out Jamie Oliver’s efforts to revolutionize school lunches in both the UK and the USA. This volume also repeats quite a bit of the content covered in another book in this series, Walter Levy’s Picnic: A History, which I prefer overall – it more successfully weaves in artistic and literary references, the most interesting material.
In general, I really like the concept behind “The Meals Series” from Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy. Brunch: A History by Farha Tenikar comes out in July (here’s hoping it doesn’t repeat this one too much), and Barbecue: A History by Tim Miller in August.
Bon appétit.
It was Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko who in 1987 uttered, “Lunch is for wimps.” And in some ways that does seem true of modern life: it is, ironically, the least physically energetic people who eat the most in the middle of the day. In the developing world, people often eat just once a day, usually in the evenings, with perhaps something small in the morning before they set off for work. We in the West, however, interrupt our sitting in front of a screen to stuff our faces – then go straight back to our screens.
It is interesting to see the ways in which the custom of lunch developed in parallel in different parts of the world. The tradition of pausing agricultural labor in the middle of the day to take a little bread, cheese and beer (the basis of the English “Ploughman’s Lunch”) has been known from ancient Mesopotamia onwards. Nowadays the meal ranges from fast food to office or school canteens; from high-powered Los Angeles business lunches to multi-course family meals at home, followed by a siesta (sounds great).
I enjoyed reading about the array of lunch options around the world: bento boxes in Japan, tiffin boxes in India, and Scandinavia’s famously open-faced sandwiches. This book made for a few pleasant days’ reading over my rather dull lunches, in fact (“Freelancing lunch can blur the boundaries between work and home,” Elias correctly notes).
By far my favorite anecdote comes at the end of chapter 3. In a section of his memoir dealing with the George W. Bush years, White House chef Walter Scheib recounted the President’s rather limited lunch options: BLT, hamburger, grilled cheese, and peanut butter and honey sandwich were the only acceptable options (all with very precise specifications), and no matter which sandwich the chef offered, Dubya would perversely want a different one. Scheib would try to tempt him: “Well, Mr. President, Mrs. Bush is having Grilled Salmon with Endive and Watercress Salad...” but Dubya would childishly demand his PB&H instead. Eventually, in an operation he called “Outfoxing the President,” Scheib set aside a special lunch station where any one of four sandwiches could be made at an instant.
Elias’s is a very thorough, wide-ranging study, though I do feel she missed a trick by leaving out Jamie Oliver’s efforts to revolutionize school lunches in both the UK and the USA. This volume also repeats quite a bit of the content covered in another book in this series, Walter Levy’s Picnic: A History, which I prefer overall – it more successfully weaves in artistic and literary references, the most interesting material.
In general, I really like the concept behind “The Meals Series” from Rowman & Littlefield Studies in Food and Gastronomy. Brunch: A History by Farha Tenikar comes out in July (here’s hoping it doesn’t repeat this one too much), and Barbecue: A History by Tim Miller in August.
Bon appétit.
July 23, 2016
Lunch feels like an academic paper, and it wasn’t until I treated it like one that I started to enjoy it. I also only dared to read this after a meal, or else my stomach would start growling from the numerous descriptions of food, food, and more food.
Introduction
Lunch provides a history of lunch, from how the term began to be used to the diversity of lunch fare across the world. Elias has included further sections on how lunch is taken at home and away from home, as well as how lunch is portrayed in the arts and popular media.
Discussion
This book felt very dry at the beginning, mostly because I wasn’t used to seeing so many references and quotes in a book. But once I accepted it for what it was (a research paper disguised as a book), I enjoyed it a lot more. Because I’ve read some extremely boring papers, so this is like the funnest paper I’ve ever read in my life.
Elias really did her research, and I learned a lot from Lunch. Did you know that dinner used to be the midday meal? And then people got lazy and woke up later and later and pushed the meals back later and later, so they needed to add more meals in the morning and afternoon? I also learned about the cultural differences in lunch fare, and got a comprehensive look at food from Japan, Russia, France, and many other countries.
For me, this was a go-with-the-flow book because of how densely packed it was; don’t let the 180-page claim fool you! Elias moves from country to country and from topic to topic with ease, and I just nod my head and follow along. In an effort to organize the material there are also subsections aside from the five major sections, but I feel like these subsections didn’t really help. In the end it’s basically all about lunch, so everything just mushes into the food portion of my brain while my stomach grumbles angrily.
I did come across things I’ve discovered in the past, and it was interesting to see Never Seconds, a lunch blog, mentioned. (It has also grown a lot since the last time I visited!) I also liked the analyses of lunch in popular media such as The Breakfast Club, Sex in the City, Charles Dickens books, and the Wind in the Willows.
Conclusion
Overall, Lunch seems to be catered to people who are used to reading academic papers. It’s a very comprehensive account of how lunch is portrayed throughout history, and a truly torturous read for your stomach.
Paper Breathers (Book Reviews & Discussions)
Introduction
Lunch provides a history of lunch, from how the term began to be used to the diversity of lunch fare across the world. Elias has included further sections on how lunch is taken at home and away from home, as well as how lunch is portrayed in the arts and popular media.
Discussion
This book felt very dry at the beginning, mostly because I wasn’t used to seeing so many references and quotes in a book. But once I accepted it for what it was (a research paper disguised as a book), I enjoyed it a lot more. Because I’ve read some extremely boring papers, so this is like the funnest paper I’ve ever read in my life.
Elias really did her research, and I learned a lot from Lunch. Did you know that dinner used to be the midday meal? And then people got lazy and woke up later and later and pushed the meals back later and later, so they needed to add more meals in the morning and afternoon? I also learned about the cultural differences in lunch fare, and got a comprehensive look at food from Japan, Russia, France, and many other countries.
For me, this was a go-with-the-flow book because of how densely packed it was; don’t let the 180-page claim fool you! Elias moves from country to country and from topic to topic with ease, and I just nod my head and follow along. In an effort to organize the material there are also subsections aside from the five major sections, but I feel like these subsections didn’t really help. In the end it’s basically all about lunch, so everything just mushes into the food portion of my brain while my stomach grumbles angrily.
I did come across things I’ve discovered in the past, and it was interesting to see Never Seconds, a lunch blog, mentioned. (It has also grown a lot since the last time I visited!) I also liked the analyses of lunch in popular media such as The Breakfast Club, Sex in the City, Charles Dickens books, and the Wind in the Willows.
Conclusion
Overall, Lunch seems to be catered to people who are used to reading academic papers. It’s a very comprehensive account of how lunch is portrayed throughout history, and a truly torturous read for your stomach.
Paper Breathers (Book Reviews & Discussions)
December 30, 2017
Discusses the development of the meal we call "lunch", but with neither a chronological nor a geographical approach, it is more a rather random collection of facts than a real narrative.
December 12, 2019
An interesting collection of thoughts and facts about lunch...which turns out to be a rather modern event.
December 12, 2025
An interesting book about the midday meal.
September 11, 2014
Excellent dive into the wonderful world of lunch!
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September 19, 2014394.1209 E423 2014
October 8, 2014
I enjoyed how this book teaches more about the origins of lunch and the paintings that were included.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews