Written By: Bill Syken
Lunch is the meal most likely to be either wolfed down or skipped entirely. It is as true in modern life as it was back in 1955, when LIFE cast its lingering gaze on the oft-hurried mid-day ritual.
“At the daily shriek of the factory whistle, clang of school bell or simple growl of an empty tummy, workday America rushes eagerly to cafeteria, lunch box, bean wagon, or executive dining room for its meridian meal,” LIFE said in its June 3, 1955 issue, introducing a photographic essay on the topic by Alfred Eisenstaedt. That entire issue was devoted to food, and the American way of lunch, LIFE wrote, was seen as offensive by “….European gourmets, to whom the hurried inhalation of hot dogs, hamburgers and poor boy sandwiches is an abomination.” But LIFE’s conclusion was that lunch, “if no epicurean triumph, still fulfills its chief function—the revitalization of a busy nation.”
Eisenstaedt photographed a wonderful variety of subjects—from the solitary meal of a construction worker or U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to communal gatherings at the farm table or the midtown diner. Some of the midday diners enjoy themselves, like workers at the Boeing plant who not only eat but play shuffleboard during their lunch break. But the photo that captures the essence of the American lunch, then and now, is the one of actress Angela Lansbury.
Lansbury is shown downing a hamburger at the Paramount Studio commissary. She sits at a table with Basil Rathbone, her costar in the movie The Court Jester. The movie was a musical comedy set in medieval times.
Lansbury sits in full costume, for her role of Princess Gwendolyn. But the meal is no royal treat. between the burger in her hand and the expression in her eyes, she looks like just another worker in need of a break, and some sustenance. So, thank God for lunch.
And then, back to work.
Carpenter Chuck Haines relaxed on a sixth-story I-beam of a bank being built in Beverly Hills, Calif., while lunching on a ham and cheese on white.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
The Chock Full O Nuts in Manhattan’s Herald Square was chock full of people—many of them either shoppers or department store workers.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Army trainees stood in line for a meal of veal, gravy, mashed potatoes, greens, relishes, jelly roll and coffee at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Alfred EisenstaedtThe LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Army private John Lambert took a 40-minute lunch break during training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Harvest farm hands ate lunch served by their wives in kitchen of a farmhouse.
Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Eddie Frank prepared to eat lunch next to his dog in front of his lighthouse.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Actress Mamie Van Doren ate a frozen dessert at the Universal Studios commissary.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Billie Ryan drank coffee as she waited for her turn at shuffleboard during the second shift’s 7:45 p.m. lunch break at the Boeing aircraft pIant in Benton, Wash.
Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation.
The Methodist churchwomen had quite a spread at their covered dish social in Augusta, Kan.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Methodist churchwomen in Augusta, Kan. enjoyed their monthly covered-dish luncheon.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Emil Kantola, a faller and bucker for the Weyhauser Timber Co., warmed himself by the fire as he had a sandwich and coffee in Snoqualmie Falls, Wash.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
Mailman John Ronayne wolfed down the 75-cent specia—spaghetti, roll and; coffee—at the stand-up sandwich shop in the Statler Hotel in
Mailman John Ronayne wolfing down 75-cent special of spaghetti, roll & coffee at stand-up sandwich shop in the Statler Hotel in Boston.
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles ate a healthy office lunch that included cottage cheese, an apple, lettuce and tea.
Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation
