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 e...