Lunch

[cakewalk]

I love reading the dinner thread, and maybe one day will even add to it. I do eat dinner just about every evening, and many of my dinners are even pretty good, but not necessarily noteworthy.

Lunch, however, is a different animal altogether. There have been various posts on the board about what we bring to work for lunch, do we buy it outside or bring it from home, is lunch always leftovers from dinner or do we make something different for lunch, etc. I thought a separate thread about our respective (or collective) lunches might bring about a nice exchange of ideas.

I always mean to "bring lunch," but hardly ever do. I just finished eating a salad (from Crown Deli on B'way and 52nd St.) of mixed greens, asparagus tips, red onion, red and green peppers, -- and, on a whim, asked for stuffed grape leaves. The grape leaves were actually very tasty, quite lemony and suprisingly good.

What did you have for lunch?

[birder53]

Lunch and breakfast are merely a way to survive until dinner! I bring yogurt and fruit from home every day. It's boring but I'm trying to save the calories for the weekends. Come Friday night, I eat and drink whatever I wish. Sitting at a desk all day and never getting any serious exercise demands watching the diet - unless I want to replace all my clothes with the next bigger size. Age hasn't helped the situation either.

[Stephanie]

I try to only eat out once a week, lunch prices in NYC being what they are. I've been mostly brown bagging it ever since I got out of college and it's a regular part of my routine at this point. (I try to prepare lunch the night before, just like Dad did for us when we were in school.)

Therefore, lunch is usually one of the following: cold cuts on sliced bread w/mustard, homemade tuna salad on pita w/cheese (I like tuna melts), hummus on pita, or a low-fat, low-sodium noodle/couscous soup cup. Sometimes I'll make salmon salad rather than tuna; sometimes I'll just have a hunk of good cheese, bread, and yogurt. Occasionally I'll have dinner leftovers. Along with the "main course" I'll have a piece of fruit and a cookie. It's not very exciting, but since I eat out dinner so often at least I'm saving money during lunch.

[tommy]

i go out for lunch a lot. to middle-of-the-road type places around manhattan. other than that, it's the company cafeteria or something from a deli.

today i had gyro from the guy on the corner. he does a nice job with it (and has a huge following to show for it), and it's only about 4 bucks or something ridiculous.

personally, i would never consider bringing lunch to work.

[Rhea_S]

I usually bring lunch, either leftovers or freshly-cooked/made before going to work. I ate at a friend's house last night and didn't want those leftovers. I baked a cake this morning and didn't have time to make lunch. I didn't feel like going out for lunch, so I bought a frozen dinner (Healthy Choice - Vegetarian Stuffed Shells) on the way to work. Not a good day and I'm still hungry.

[kpurvis]

Most days, it's lunch at my desk, usually frozen Lean Cuisine-type stuff to save time and calories that I happily blow somewhere else.

But last Thursday, while driving around looking for Mexican Coke in Charlotte, N.C., for a column, I stopped at one of our local loncheras in the parking lot of a large Mexican supermarket and grabbed a marinated-pork torta, packed with slices of avocado, lots of lettuce and white cheese. Thus answering the musical question:

Can a woman driving a 5-speed Honda Accord eat a large, sloppy torta in lunchtime traffic?

Yes, she can. But not well. Next time I'll ask for a fork.

I never cell-phone and drive. But eating and driving is fair game.

[Suzanne F]

... But last Thursday, while driving around looking for Mexican Coke in Charlotte, N.C., for a column, ...

I sure hope you mean the beverage!

As for me -- working in an in-home office means lunch is pretty easy: leftovers or a quick sandwich (usually cold cuts on good bread). My husband/business-partner is more the "I've got to get out for a while and I'll have lunch while I'm out" type. Fortunately, there are some good, inexpensive places close by.

But I agree with birder53 -- it's just so that I don't pass out before dinner time.

[cakewalk]

I baked a cake this morning and didn't have time to make lunch.

You baked a cake in the morning?! You had the time?!?

Mucho impressive!

[Stephanie]

But last Thursday, while driving around looking for Mexican Coke in Charlotte, N.C., for a column

How is Mexican Coke different from the American version? Is it made with sugar rather than corn syrup?

[Human Bean]

How is Mexican Coke different from the American version?  Is it made with sugar rather than corn syrup?

That's correct, from what I've heard, but kpurvis may have different reasons.

Checking a can at hand, is says, "high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose," meaning you can't be sure what's in there, while the Mexican version uses only sugar (again, second-hand info.)

Is the difference noticeable? Hard to tell if you're not sure what's in there in the first place. Back during the New Coke brouhaha, after the introduction of "Coke Classic," I was able to compare genuine original Coca Cola with (the 'new') Coca Cola Classic. My impression was that the 'Classic' was subtly inferior, but it may have been wishful thinking.

[Jinmyo]

I work where I live and live where I work so I have no office to go to.

But I had a thought about people eating at their desks.

It seems to me that it could be quite dire with the meal brought in under the low ceiling of the work day and its various associations; or it could wonderfully reframe one's orientation about the workspace.

In the former case one dutifully consumes rations; in the latter the desk becomes a banquet table or playground.

Is this relevant to your experience?

[Human Bean]

I don't eat lunch in restaurants often, but here in the wilderness (no idea about how things are done in the Big City), lunch in a restaurant is a really good deal.

Lunch is largely the same as dinner, but much cheaper. Typically there will be a limited range of the usual dinner entrees, maybe with fewer frills or a somewhat smaller portion, but basically the same. Also, many ethnic restaurants (typically Indian or other Asian) have all-you-can-eat buffets at very good prices. Mongolian Grill is popular, fixed-price (none of that by-the-ounce $#!^), all-you-can-choke-down, much cheaper than dinner, but they don't offer some of the higher-cost meats (shrimp, lamb.) Excellent value.

[oraklet]

work days i "dutyfully consume rations"; though the bread is homemade, and i do make a little effort to put something interesting on it.

but have you guys ever tried traditional danish lunch? now that is "A different animal altogether". as wonderful as danish dinner traditions are shitty. it's called "smörrebröd" (buttered bread). swedish smorgasbord is a pale version of the real, powerful thing. in the old days it was a spinoff from christmas, but today it's a year-round thing. i think that some of the best danish restaurants are the ones serving this kind of lunch.

[VinJean]

I generally buy my lunch at work. My office has a very nice cafeteria with a great variety of stuff. Always a few soups to choose from, salad bar, sandwich station, and a couple of entrees. It is just too convenient, so I don't ever really need to bring anything.

[kpurvis]

But last Thursday, while driving around looking for Mexican Coke in Charlotte, N.C., for a column

How is Mexican Coke different from the American version? Is it made with sugar rather than corn syrup?

I'd agree with Human Bean -- it's debatable. And it's been taken up in other threads, I think, and is off the point for this one. But here's a link that I think will take you to the column I wrote:

charlotte.com

[Emma]

Other like-minded coworkers and I get together to share lunch responsibilities. We try to trade off days so we're not bringing (and eating) our own food too many times a week. Lunch is midtown gets so expensive and it feels a little more special to know someone has prepared something just for you! Although lugging in all the containers gets a bit annoying.

[Jinmyo]

Emma, that sounds like a very good arrangement.

[cakewalk]

but have you guys ever tried traditional danish lunch? now that is "A different animal altogether". as wonderful as danish dinner traditions are shitty. it's called "smörrebröd" (buttered bread). swedish smorgasbord is a pale version of the real, powerful thing. in the old days it was a spinoff from christmas, but today it's a year-round thing. i think that some of the best danish restaurants are the ones serving this kind of lunch.

Tell us more!

I imagine it must be more than buttered bread (although buttered fresh bread and a cup of steaming hot, strong coffee sounds like an ace lunch to me). And why do you suppose it became a lunch tradition rather than a dinner tradition? Does your regular workday have a long lunch break mid-day?

[cakewalk]

It seems to me that it could be quite dire with the meal brought in under the low ceiling of the work day and its various associations; or it could wonderfully reframe one's orientation about the workspace.

In the former case one dutifully consumes rations; in the latter the desk becomes a banquet table or playground.

True, of course. In fact, I think food can "reframe one's orientation" about almost any place where one spends long stretches of time. But in North America somehow that always seems reserved for dinner time! Part of it is time limitations. Lunch breaks are short, and good meals seem to be about the lingering and the conversation as much as they are about the food, and that sort of rules lunch out. But also there's always the aspect of "saving" -- time, calories, treats, money, etc. I know I'm going out to dinner tonight, and that has to be balanced with a skimpy lunch. The discrepancies between our dinners and our lunches are amazing.

So today: having spent about half the morning with the business of getting an MRI (the knee, dammit), I got to work and wolfed down a sesame bagel with cream cheese and sun dried tomatoes (which will always, from now until forever, make me think of Soba Addict and his oreos and sun dried tomatoes). And some not very good coffee. While I checked my e-mail. Sigh.

[Holly Moore]

Lunch and breakfast are merely a way to survive until dinner!

No! No!! No!!!

Breakfast is a glorious meal, not to be sloughed off - especially when consumed at a fine hotel or a restaurant that goes beyond a 99 cent coffee, egg and toast special. It sets the tone for one's day. It welcomes one into the world. It makes one happy and jolly and pleasant to most.

I usually end up eating lunch around 4 in the afternoon, so I consider it more as a pre-appetizer for dinner than an actual meal.

My most frequent lunch comes entirely from Philadelphia's Metropolitan Bakery - Two slices of their whole wheat, whole grain sandwich bread, toasted and topped, open face, with their salmon dill sour cream spread, and a few slices of Spence and Company sliced salmon.

[Rhea_S]

I baked a cake this morning and didn't have time to make lunch.

You baked a cake in the morning?! You had the time?!?

Mucho impressive!

Not really. I usually wake up between 5:30 and 6 to walk the dogs. We finish at 6:30 to 6:45 and I don't start work until sometime between 8:30 and 9AM. Can you tell I don't have a watch? 2 hours is usually plenty to bake, cook lunch or both depending on how many dishes I have to wash before I can do either. It's my form of morning meditation.

Edit: I only have a 5 minute commute and it only takes me 20 minutes at most to get ready for work.

[oraklet]

danish smörrebröd - or perhaps rather: traditional great christmas lunch:

it has developed from the smörrebröd workers brougt with them to the fields or whereever. it would sometimes be enriched with leftovers. this "peasant lunch" (ahem) has merged with the traditional "leftovers" from christmas butchering of the pig(s) to become what it is today. also it has been formalized in the "3 course manner" we know from the rest of the european cuisine. you must imagine a good schnaps like bröndum, and fine beer, with it. most of this is eaten on sourdough rye bread (the danish kind with no sugar or spices). only weaklings have white bread with anything but the salmon. lots of butter on bread.

so, you start off with, say, gravad salmon with a sour-sweet sauce, smoked salmon with scrambled eggs or perhaps a fried skate. eel sometimes, and perhaps a teeny bit of green salad... then on to the sour-sweet marinated herrings of diverse strenghts and spices (cloves, among many other), with more or less of raw onion in it. at this time the angels start singing. bones have dissolved, and meat is succulent(?). it's so beatifull.

next come the sausages. these are for the most part smoked and made from pork, of course, and now you change from butter to pork's fat. also, you put pork jelly(?) on top, with raw onion rings. "rullepölse" (sausage "roll") is not smoked. again, a leeetle green salad may sneak in.

cold meat. pork. with cucumbers (the small sour ones). perhaps there will be pig's toes. and sylte, which is a variant of confit, only with less fat. potato salad. though quite heavy, taste-wise this part of the meal can be seen as a kind of break allowing your tastebuds to calm down.

crowning it all: cheese. sharp, bitter, stinky, with raw onion rings, and rum sprinkled, plus the jelly. though this seems repetetive of the sausage, it works fine cause you've had the meat in between. french gourmets have been known to sing its praise...

at christmas time, dessert will be a kind of rice pudding mixed with whipped cream, chopped almonds and vanilla plus amarena cherries. very, very nice indeed. the rest of the year you finish with good strong coffee.

i have probably forgotten a lot in this resume, but at least you now have an idea of what it's about, though it probably doesn't convey the power and richness. to most danes this is the ultimate comfort food. the greatest danish author of the 20. century has written a splendid poem of it, alluding of course to all the taste associations you can imagine. i wish i could translate it.

[Jinmyo]

Wonderful, oraklet.

[stagis]

Over the years I've done some really nice things at lunch with the nicest memory being:

Working 1/4 mile from home and commuting on a tag-sale bicycle. I left work, ran to the garden and picked a beeyootiful head of Romaine. Into the house and whip up a hugemongous Caesar salad - then back to work. Absolutely perfect.

Right now? It's a mix of skipping lunch, heading to the supermarket's salad bar or going to one of several local restaurants. We're lucky - store-front Chinese (where I've watched the owner's children grow up behind the counter), Eyetalian deli, an absolutely excellent Ribs-n-chicken place (smoke-oven and frialators behind the counter), a new Japanese restaurant (if I'm feeling spendy) which makes a great box-lunch and the store-down-the-street, Ellie's deli.

Ellie's is the neighborhood convenience store in the old style - clapboard siding, tiny, motor oil and Drake's Cakes on the shelves - and the best sandwich deals in Southington, CT. My wife and I can eat a hard-roll sandwich, chips and soda and grab a lottery ticket or two for well under $10. On the other hand, if you ask them what the soup of the day is, they'll read the label on the can.....

[oraklet]

cakewalk,

"And why do you suppose it became a lunch tradition rather than a dinner tradition? Does your regular workday have a long lunch break mid-day? "

well, lunch both because of smörrebröd being what you could bring with you, and because as in many agricultures, feasts were often mid day... i think.

we've got half an hour for lunch. i'm a slow eater, so often it's a bit too little time. must be for many.