Is lunch over?

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Let’s be honest. What do you think of when you read a headline like “Lunch is losing its importance”? I bet the same with me. So: This is true. And: I’ve known this for a long time because I have difficulties with it. What can you do about it?

lunch in between

Lunch has been going downhill for decades. It changed first because most of the family members were at work and school. We ate warm, cold cuts on bread, salad was planned but then there was no time to prepare. A chocolate or Mars-Mocken rounded out the day. Later, the food in the canteen or restaurant changed as lunch breaks got shorter and shorter. The smell in the canteen corresponded to the quality of the food. Better than nothing.

Pre-cooked and reheated meals in canteens

The offer in restaurants was not better because food is supposed to be affordable. For the guest but above all for the host. So the same suppliers supplied both the bar kitchen and the canteen. They don’t just bring home leeks, celery and pork chops anymore. Not only salads, but also soups, stews and roasts were delivered ready-made. Because precooked and reheated foods can only provide tired flavors, these dishes have added more salt, flavor enhancers, and sometimes additives labeled “natural flavors.” Just as sauces were already made only in powder form and desserts were kept frozen. One hour of thawing is sufficient. How does it taste? “sweet” okay?

All these changes happened gradually, and yet they happened faster than anyone could have imagined. By the time you become aware of them, they’ve been there a long time. And the explanations were always the same: no money. There isn’t enough time. Quite the opposite: It should be affordable.

Eating wrong makes you sick

However, there have been and are happening changes that are not immediately apparent. Anyone who eats lunch under the pressure of time for years suffers from digestive and other health problems in a short time. Anyone who has eaten something wrong or “not right” for years will sooner or later experience problems with being overweight and one day with the circulatory system. But first of all: the study cited in “Frankfurter Allgemeine” says that people from the rich and middle classes are less affected by these changes than the lower classes (what a word!). Or to put it another way: The upper and lower classes of the population diverge in their dietary habits. And so on the effects. After all, people who regularly eat higher quality meals because they’re freshly prepared seem healthier, live longer, and visibly cheaper in their health statistics.

Does nutrition education make sense in schools?

Solution? The article quotes the CEO of a multinational food company. It calls for nutrition education in schools (ie by the state). “You don’t need to know how to cook, but you do need to know something about healthy eating,” she says. And then the food industry will know what healthy eating is. Like baby milk, like water… They call it “functional food”.

Source : Blick