Consider the sandwich. An efficient delivery vehicle for proteins, carbs, and whatever else you choose, it is the go-to midday meal for many, particularly in the work force. But how, and when, did it come to be popularized
In a recent interview with the BBC, Dr. Megan Elias explained that the lunch break we enjoy today is largely a product of the Industrial Revolution. While workers were never expected to go without lunch, it took jostling and negotiation between them and employers to arrive at when and for how long the breaks could be expected. “Time becomes sort of the property of the factory owner,” Dr. Elias says. The result was a meal that was defined by its time constraints, putting a premium on food that could be prepared and eaten in a speedy fashion. “There’s a sense of kind of a rush to lunch that didn’t exist before,” she adds.
Metropolitan College’s director of Food Studies and author of Lunch: The History of a Meal, Dr. Elias has been sought out for her perspective on the meals of the day before, telling the Boston Globe that the lunch hour is more vital than ever in a post-pandemic world, unpacking the professional power dynamic between employee and employer when it comes to lunch for the Guardian, and highlighting the importance of breakfast on WCVB’s Chronicle.