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Bringing food to work.


Yuki

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I know lots of people bring food to work but how do others view it? In my dad's work place, it is not recommended for men(with higher position) to bring lunch from home since it is "unmanly". Most of the women in my mom's office bring their own lunch, they even have their own rice cooker. :hmmm: What is the office/workplace politics about home made lunch?

Is there any food that you would not like your colleague to see you eating? I know that heating up Chinese preserved fishes can bring a very distant smell in the whole room. Do you usually eat by yourself or in a common room? Let's open the room for discussions now!

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I know lots of people bring food to work but how do others view it? In my dad's work place, it is not recommended for men(with higher position) to bring lunch from home since it is "unmanly". Most of the women in my mom's office bring their own lunch, they even have their own rice cooker. :hmmm: What is the office/workplace politics about home made lunch?

Is there any food that you would not like your colleague to see you eating? I know that heating up Chinese preserved fishes can bring a very distant smell in the whole room. Do you usually eat by yourself or in a common room? Let's open the room for discussions now!

I usually take a lunch 3x per week. Wednesdays we walk down to an Indian place and get a box to go. And Fridays I walk to a nearby Teriyaki place to get something. I feel no shame in bringing my lunch, it tastes great and saves money, too.

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I bring lunch at least 3x's per week. I usually bring left overs from home or a sandwich or a salad that I prepared at home.

The other 2 days I run out for something just so I don't end up sitting at my desk all day every day of the week. I don't eat in a communal room however. I eat at my desk. I hate for people to watch me eat or comment on what I am eating.

Drives me nuts!

I try not to bring anything that will cause a lingering smell to permeate the office. I think that is just plain rude.

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I think this would actually depend on the country/culture as well as the office and particular industry.

I remember when my father headed a R&D department, lunches were eaten in the company cafeteria; everyone ate there but where you got to sit (from the table right down to your relative spot at a table) was determined entirely by hierarchy. People had no problems taking food home (the cafeteria was geared that way) but they didn't bring anything since it would look improper to not take up the company's offerings. [aside: the cafeteria was pretty good - 6-8 dishes, 2 soups, and rice or noodles]

Where I work, the president of the company eats with the minions at the cafeteria (ergo he suffers the same Sodexho-originated fate as we all do), but there is no issues regarding bringing something. We also have a giant cafeteria so there's no segregation there either.

As for food that I'd rather others no see me eat… not much comes to mind since I think about what I can bring that's simple to eat and doesn't cause a mess. I would prefer not to see others eat durian pastries, since that gives the microwave a whole new aroma.

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In my office, lots of people bring their lunch from home, or else bring something back from outside.

There are two rules: no microwave popcorn, and no fish in the microwave, both for smell reasons. Microwave popcorn smells so good it distracts everyone, and fish tends to linger in an unpleasant way.

I'd like to add a no toast rule, too, since the smell of toast is among my faves and always makes me hungry!

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

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I tend to bring my lunch most days. Since I have cafeteria duty I don't get to eat with the rest of the staff at my school. This is sort of a shame because I miss out on the building politics and all, but in some ways it is nice because I can eat my lunch in my classroom and get some quiet time, which after a day of elementary band lessons, is much needed. There are no rules about what you can or can't bring, and pretty much everyone uses the home-ec classroom for reheating or preparing meals, though usually it is just the microwaves.

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

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I bring my lunch almost every day, as the food's better than any of the four different at-work dining options available to me. One of these is actually free, but free is still not sufficient inducement to get me to eat the food on most occasions. Free food's also provided at a couple of weekly conferences, but I still prefer food from home.

I almost never eat at my desk, though, preferring to eat with colleagues in one of the dining rooms or cafeterias. There's no problem doing this, and microwaves are provided for heating food from home.

There is often considerable comment about my "weird" food (generally from male colleagues), but I don't mind that.

Microwaving fish considered very rude, and it rarely happens. Microwave popcorn's considered acceptable---I find the smell disgusting, but nobody else seems to mind it.

Can you pee in the ocean?

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I look forward to finishing leftovers from good home-cooked meals at work -- I have to make sure I get into the kitchen to salvage, for example, sausage and cannelini and get it into the tupperware before my son, who cleans after dinner, throws it away. I'm trying to train my wife to pre-slice the leftovers, since it's such a pain to try to cut up meat with plastic office forks, especially if you're eating out of a one-quart container that once held hot and sour soup.

I was once told not to "bring any more stinky cheese" to work.

If one more person fills the office with that microwave popcorn/fake butter smell, I will not be responsible for my actions.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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I spend so much time at my desk that not only do I bring lunch, but snacks, too. One of my desk drawers is devoted to Trader Joe's treats. :biggrin:

Lots of people i work with bring lunch and I am pretty religious about brown-bagging - it's cheaper, healthier, and almost always tastes better.

I agree about the popcorn and fish, but I'll add another one - anything with a lot of curry in it. That tends not to smell good in an office.

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In the lab where I work, all the research techs (think low on the academic payscale) talk about bringing lunch to save costs, but mostly don't. Instead, it's out to the food trucks with the bosses & postdocs, trying to beat the lines when the university students get out of class. I mostly bring leftovers, soup or sandwiches, although it only works if I pack lunch the night before and not the morning of. In addition, everyone tries to eat together although it's flexible. I like workplaces where people eat together, it's friendlier.

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I bring my lunch in to work nearly every day- it saves money. Most of the people I work with go out to eat or buy fast food and bring it back. I sit at my desk while I eat and surf the internet(like I'm doing now!) Because I am watching my weight I pack salads, fruit, hummus, hard-boiled eggs- healthy food. It is very difficult to enjoy this healthy meal when the boss sits down with a greasy cheeseburger in the cube next door and I can smell every fat molecule... Sometimes I bring in leftovers. Often people will walk by and ask me what the hell I'm eating. I patiently explain "Braised rabbit" or "Spinach koftas" etc. Of course many times leftover lunch is as mundane as spaghetti or pizza, but people still comment because it's homemade.

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The cafeteria in the hospital, being a hospital cafeteria, isn't all that great, but there are bright spots, and it is reasonable as well. I usually eat at my desk, simply to be able to get out of here an hour earlier. And I don't usually bring lunch, though I have been known to.

There is a break room for the lab area, and the smells that come out of there just amaze me. I've called it "cabbage and ass" before, and it still fits. Lots of BBQ, fish, and popcorn.

The kicker is, every one in a while, the micro lab will open a petri dish full of some anaerobic bacteria that will clear the lab. Smells like old, hot, rotten death.

Ooh, it's lunchtime....

Screw it. It's a Butterball.
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I bring my lunch often, and eat at my desk. We have a cafeteria that serves very mediocre food and is overpriced to boot, so I rarely resort to it. There are also few decent restaurants, fast or otherwise, nearby. Leftovers are always better! Many of the people I work with are Indian and have wives who stay home, so they always have wonderful dishes to heat up for their lunches. I'm the lone woman working in the area and have to cook for myself so I can't keep up with them, but I try!

Edited by Aileen (log)
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I try to bring my lunch every day, and even freeze soups and portion refrigerated leftovers specifically for that purpose. The problem is, however, that I work in a really small office. In the kitchen is a bar (which hasn't been stocked with liquor for years) at which I can sit and eat; adjoining the kitchen is also a library where I can eat if none of the attorneys are meeting with clients in there. The problem is the office curmudgeon; if he's around, I try to figure something else out. His eating habits are beyond strange. He whines about never getting to eat lunch, but he does, nearly every day. If he sees me salt something, he'll enter a self-righteous diatribe about how he never eats salt. Problem is, his two main food groups appear to be candy, which I see him eat because the candy basket is on my desk, and liquor. Occasionally he'll buy some special low-cholesterol pseudo cheese and put that on a bagel. He's one miserable human being who eats miserable food, and I'd rather eat whatever I can afford at McDonald's every day, than eat anything, no matter how good it is, with him in the same room.

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I bring lunch to work everyday. Usually I bring leftovers, although recently I've also started to bring sandwich makings and assemble the sandwiches right before I eat them. Luckily, we have a fridge (and a Whole Foods in the building) so I can store all the condiments (mayo, green olive paste, cheese) that I purchase at Whole Foods. Since I'm watching my weight and eat a few meals a day at work, I usually bring some homemade food, make myself a sandwich in the afternoon, and snack out of my snack drawer.

Snacks can include anything from: chocolate covered Spanish almonds, organic Turkish figs, dried cherries or Total Greek yogurt.

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i love this topic.

i too am in a sodexho building but rarely eat in the (unsegregated and not-unpleasant) cafeteria. i almost always eat at my desk. usually a salad from the salad bar, soup or a sandwich. i bring in leftovers or a packed lunch from home once or twice a week. often curry... :unsure: but no one here seems to mind. lots of ethnic cuisine gets heated here. no stinky fish that i've ever noticed though...and there's a very detailed sign next to the microwave instructing people on proper popcorn technique.

from overheard in new york:

Kid #1: Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!

Kid #2: "Bam" doesn't blow up, "bam" makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can't defeat that!

--6 Train

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There are only four of us in our little office, and the boss lady is very big on lunch. We go out to lunch everyday, together. We have our favorite haunts and will occasionally venture out to new places.

Once, we tried to tell her we wanted to bring our lunches some days, and her feelings were very hurt, so it is off to lunch we go. Every Friday she buys. Sometimes there is shopping or chosing paint samples after lunch.

I love my job.

JGM: I know how you feel. At the firm where I used to work there was this MD/JD who was just a little past the bar of "Odd". The man ate tuna out of a can. Every. Single. Day. Nothing else. He kept stacks and stacks of cans of tuna in his office. Nice man, but difficult to have lunch chit-chat with.

If you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen - Calpurnia

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I'm trying to bring lunch more often, and I sometimes even make it as far as bagging it up, and having it ready in the fridge, but I usually forget it.

I eat at my desk, and in the summer (if I'm freelancing in the garment district) I go to bryant park.

I really object when people bring hardboiled eggs to the office. It just smells really unpleasant. You'd think most people would adhere to the unspoken rule, but there is always one guy in every office I've worked in who seems to think hard boiled eggs and open cubicles are a good thing.

I won't bring fish, but I do make microwave popcorn. I found that Newman's Own Organics doesn't have that fake butter smell, and tastes much better than the other brands. Plus, its trans-fatty/Hydrogenated free.

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...The problem is the office curmudgeon; if he's around, I try to figure something else out.  His eating habits are beyond strange.

Okay. So I will never ever again complain about my lunch. I enjoy both good food (my own) and good company (my colleagues).

I am surprised at the number of people who elect to eat at their desks. I do so only if I'm absolutely hammered at work, or if my usual lunch dates are unavailable.

Can you pee in the ocean?

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It is nice to hear many of you are bringing leftovers since it saves time and money. Although since I can not always make it to the microwave, I would try to bring something that taste good when cold(No, I am not going to bring a sandwich). This would usually be some vegetable sticks, fruits, onigiri, pizza(I like cold pizza more...), and granola. Today I brought Green curry with eggplant, green & red peppers and Chicken and some rice. I hope that no one was offended by the smell of the curry. :biggrin:

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I bring lunch every day. I do so for several reasons.

-I like what I bring

-It's much faster than going out so I get home earlier

-The cafeteria at work is truely scary. I went there on my first day and never again

I generally eat at my desk because I eat much earlier than the general population, 11am.

I generally bring a sandwitch of on one of the Arnold breads. Great bread BTW. The meat and the cheese I vary from week to week. I have some pretzels to satisify my crunch urge. Then I have one of the Stony Field Organic yogurts, full fat, various flavor strawberry and blueberry preferred. That stuff is great! Then generally some sort of fruit. Fruit varies depending on season. But I gravitate towards bananns, apples, pinapple, pears, blue berries. Mangos and kiwies are too much work.

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I'm trying to bring lunch more often, and I sometimes even make it as far as bagging it up, and having it ready in the fridge, but I usually forget it.

I hate taking a lunch and generally take leftovers if I take anything. But I am not a morning person at all, and have the same problem with forgetting it as you do. The only, and I mean only, way I remember is by putting my keys in the fridge with it the night before.

I try to keep a food drawer stocked, and I have a mini fridge. Some of the things I keep are yogurt, cheese, nuts, soda, water, and chocolate. I've been on an oatmeal kick, so I have some snack size baggies with oatmeal, sliced almonds and dried cranberries. There are usually bagels or cinamon rolls left over from the breakfast program for breakfast.

We recently needed a new toaster because the old one kept burning things. Not a good idea to set off the fire alarm toasting a bagel in a school complex with 800 kids. :blink: The designated shopper got a little carried away and got one of these convection/rotisserie/over-grown toaster oven contraptions. So now we cook on Fridays. So far we have had meatloaf, pork roast, turkey breast, and ham. We're looking for ideas for Friday, so if you have any, pipe up. There are usually about 8 of us eating.

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I live *right next door* to where I work. Sweet commute, eh? I bought the house for that very reason............

I use slow-cookers about once a week for pork roasts or pot roasts, and then after that supper, apportion meals into tupperware or gallon baggies. Broccoli/ beets/ carrots are steamed in bulk for future sides. The best part of my lunch break? Hanging out with my pets! :biggrin:

I'm a canning clean freak because there's no sorry large enough to cover the, "Oops! I gave you botulism" regrets.

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