Lunchbox

“ Where supper differs from the usual lunch table is that in front of the hostess is a big silver tea-tray with full silver service for tea or cocoa or chocolate or breakfast coffee, most often chocolate or cocoa and either tea or coffee. At the host's end of the table there is perhaps a chafing dish—that is, if the host fancies himself a cook!
A number of people whose establishments are not very large, have very informal Sunday night suppers on their servants' Sundays out, and forage for themselves. The table is left set, a cold dish of something and salad are left in the icebox ”

“ When breakfast is made a formal meal—that is, when company is invited to come at a stated hour--serviettes, or large dinner- napkins, must be placed at each plate, as for a dinner. But they are never used at a "stand-up" breakfast, nor are doyleys or finger- bowls.
If any accident happens, such as the spilling of a glass of wine or the upsetting of a plate, the dbris should be carefully cleared away, and the waiter should spread a clean napkin over the desecrated table-cloth. Large, white napkins are invariably used at luncheon, and the smaller ones kept for breakfast and tea. ”

“ In the cloak-rooms there is not always room for a table, and the children sometimes have to sit along the walls, holding their mugs of cocoa or their basins of soup on their knees. When the class-rooms are utilised the food has to be placed on the desks; nothing in the nature of table-cloths is provided, and the state of the desks after the children, the infants especially, have eaten soup or bread and syrup, can be well imagined. Often the breakfasts arrive late, and the children have consequently to be hurried over the meal so that the class-rooms may be got ready for school. ”

“ In some homes luncheon is a quite elaborate affair, and comprises several courses, including, perhaps, a soup or bouillon, a meat course, a salad, and fruit or sweets. In the majority of establishments owned by people of moderate means, however, the meal is simpler, but need be no less delightful. Many people can eat muffins, griddle-cakes, and [Pg 95] other hot breads at noon with less after-discomfort than at any other season, and dishes of this sort are usually acceptable on the luncheon-table. With their help the meal can hardly fail to be appetizing. ”

“ Plates of sandwiches or filled rolls (not too far from the table edge) olives and relishes should also be arranged on the table, though cakes, candies and salted nuts may be passed by the maids. The rolls go with the hot course, the sandwiches with the salad. When a “buffet” lunch is served at a big reception, with any number of guests coming and going, all the buffet refreshments should appear on the table at the same time.
The following dishes cover the essentials of a “buffet” luncheon. Beverages: punch, coffee, chocolate (poured from urn, or filled cups brought from pantry on tray) ”

“ As a rule these articles are highly ornamental, and are meant to be used on the table or sideboard; they are usually brought into requisition at breakfast, luncheon and supper, and are undoubtedly most serviceable in households where only a few servants are kept, as by their aid dainty little dishes such as fried or scrambled eggs, omelettes, stewed kidneys, broiled tomatoes, welch rarebit or cheese fondu, and similar preparations can be speedily prepared at the early morning meal, or at a late supper "after the theatre." For dwellers in flats the chafing dish is almost indispensable. ”

“ A buffet luncheon is served from the sideboard or from the dining-table, the guests sitting about the room. It is a convenient form of entertainment where many people are to be provided for, or where it is uncertain how many will be present. The bill of fare should consist for the most part of articles that do not require cutting up, since it is difficult to manage this with a plate resting upon one’s knees. Sandwiches, salads, oysters, croquettes, and bouillon are all appropriate, with coffee, ices, cake, and bonbons. ”

“ Serving luncheon at one was an innovation, but an excellent one. When the dishes were cleared away the anxiety was over, and the hostess moved about among her guests without a thought of a meal to be served at the end of the games. We set ten small tables, three in the dining-room, four in the sitting-room, two in the parlor and one in the hall. The tables were snowily linened, there were doilies in blue and white, and the centrepiece on each table was a glass dish filled with small bunches of splendid blue and white grapes. ”

“ The large buffet luncheon, like the four o'clock tea, gives opportunity for displaying all the pretty china that one owns. Flowers and fruits may decorate the table or tables, and the most artistic effects may be secured by a little attention to blending and grouping. A hostess who knows how can make her rooms look like a festal bower for these occasions without much money outlay; and if she also is clever in the compounding of made dishes and salads, she can give luncheons that are remembered as the epitome of good style, albeit the bills for the same were surprisingly small. ”

“ The children finally became tired of this game and started another. Then it was “time to eat,” as Trouble said, so they found a flat stump for a table and spread out on it the lunch their father had given them from the store.
“Doesn’t it taste good?” asked Ted of his sister.
“Awful good,” she agreed.
“Better’n it does at home,” added Ted.
“I ’ike it, too,” declared Trouble.
As I suppose you have all noticed, a picnic lunch, even if it is only crackers or bread and butter, tastes better than the finest meal served on plates with silver knives and forks and a spotless tablecloth. ”

“ No hard-and-fast rules can be laid down for the disposal of the cruets, butter, toast, eggs, marmalade, etc., but they all appear on a properly appointed table, arranged according to the space available, and, of course, some symmetrical order must be maintained. As a rule, one end of the table is occupied by the breakfast ware, sugar, hot and cold milk, tea and coffee pots, and when only one hot dish is provided, it is nearly always placed at the opposite end of the table. ”

“ Nearly everything that is to compose the ordinary luncheon for the family may be put upon the table at one time. Of course there must be an exception to this rule when the first course consists of soup or bouillon; but even then all the cold dishes may be in place when the guests are seated. The waiting need be only of the simplest, unless formality is desired. Those about the table may help themselves and one another, while the duties of the waitress may be confined to passing the dishes that are on the sideboard, changing the plates, bringing in hot dishes, etc. ”

“ When only members of the family are present at luncheon, the mistress of the house is helped first.
Fruit tarts, pudding, sweet omelette, jellies, blancmange, and ice- cream are all proper dessert for luncheon; also luncheon cake, or the plainer sorts of loaf-cake.
It is well in all households, if possible, for the children to breakfast and lunch with their parents. The teaching of table manners cannot be begun too soon. But children should never be allowed to trouble guests. If not old enough to behave well at table, guests should not be invited to the meals at which they are present. ”

“ The modern hunter or fisher, if he drive to the meet or the burn, can be trusted with an orthodox lunch-basket, which should hold cold tea, cold game-pie, a few olives, and a bit of cheese, and a large reserve of sandwiches. When we grow more celestial, when we achieve the physical theory of another life, we may know how to concentrate good eating in a more portable form than that of the sandwich, but we do not know it yet. ”

“ Such gross food is only fit for a man.”
The school-girl, rising from a barely-tasted breakfast during which she has been saying over to herself the chronological table, or French verb, learned the night before,—“doesn’t care to take any luncheon with her to-day. Certainly, no bread-and-butter—and sandwiches are hateful! If you insist, mamma, just give me a piece of pie—mince-pie, if you have it, with a slice of fruitcake and a little cheese. ”

“ The plates used are ordinarily of rather smaller size than those seen at dinner, as the dishes are of a lighter character, and the handsomest are reserved for the fingerbowls, which [Pg 13] are put on the table with the bonbons and coffee only, unless the meal begins with fruit, when they appear twice.
The question of lighting the table is one that often puzzles young housekeepers or novices at entertaining. "Shall we use candles at luncheon?" they ask, bewildered at the seeming absurdity of the idea. ”

“ All girls were forbidden the dining-room after breakfast, except a few who were asked to help bring down the “greenery” from the woods. These had a peep at the unfinished decorations. There was to be a picnic lunch at noon, to leave the dining-room free for the elaborate decorating, and it was even a mystery where the lunch was to be. In the arts and crafts room councillors were working on the last menu cards, which were being painted and lettered, and occasionally a few girls would invent some “necessary” errands, which would take them through the room into Laugh-a-lot. ”

“ There should always be flowers in the centre of the table, preferably a flat or low dish or vase, for where there are few guests they should be able to see each others' faces, instead of being obliged to dodge around a tall ornament that effectually conceals those seated on one side of the board from those placed on the other. Bouquets de corsage, while always pretty, are not essential at a simple luncheon, nor are cards necessary.
The table should be spread with the daintiest china and silver. At each plate must be the usual articles—knife, fork, tumbler, butter-plate, and napkin. ”

“ Berthe and Nini, however, wanted to know where I would lunch, and were rather startled when I informed them to lay a cloth on the kitchen table and to bring out all the cold meat, cheese, bread, butter and jam in the larder. It would be a stand-up picnic lunch for everyone to-day, and what was more, it was very likely to be picnic dinner; so Julie was ordered to put two chickens to roast and some potatoes to boil—both needed but little attention and would always be ready when we might need them. ”

“ With the duff bubbling fiercely, and the beef on the other side of the stove keeping in tune with it, the men's dinner needs no more thought on his part except to keep the fire going; so that he will be able to do a bit of cleaning up, if he has a weakness in that direction, or he may sit and smoke and meditate. The steward is preparing the cabin dinner [Pg 216] aft in his pantry: a fruit pie, some tasty combination of tinned meat and potatoes, or even a fowl, if they are carried. In any case, as a rule the cook has only to see the food for the cabin through the actual cooking. ”

“ The food is all put on the dining table and every one helps himself. There is always bouillon or oyster stew or clam chowder. The most "informal" dishes are suitable for this sort of a meal, as for a picnic. There are two hot dishes and a salad, and a dessert which may be, but seldom is, ice cream.
Stand-up luncheons are very practical for hostesses who have medium sized houses, or when an elastic number of guests are expected at the time of a ball game, or other event that congregates a great many people. ”

“ FUNCTIONS THE rules that apply to a dinner hold good at a luncheon, to which function ladies only are usually invited, although when served at twelve o’clock, and called “breakfast,” men are also bidden.
At a luncheon the women leave their coats in the dressing-room, wearing their hats and gloves to the table. The gloves are drawn off as soon as all are seated. Just why women elect to sit through an entire meal in a private house with their hats on is not readily explained and some independent hostesses request that hats be removed. ”

“ The employees' lunchroom—conducted on the cafeteria plan—serves four thousand men and women each working day. It provides tasty and wholesome food at a cost that makes it entirely possible to eat to repletion for twenty cents or less. Soups, for instance, are three cents a portion, and meat dishes six, while other items, such as sandwiches, vegetables, desserts and the like are correspondingly low.
Nor is this luncheon the sole restaurant resource of the employees within this institution. In the men's club nearly a thousand more of the Macy family eat their midday meal each day ”

“ We have to have boxes, ’cause they have hash that is made out of boots. It is not good to eat. The soup tastes like a tooth-pick. The butter is a thousand years old. A girl said so. If I should have a box, I think it would be good for me. Put in some cookies and some apples and cake and cheese and chicken-pie and a neck-tie and apple-pie and fruit-cake and that other kind of jelly-cake and some cookies and stockings and cans of fruit and fish-hooks and pop-corn and molasses and cookies. Jim found a half a dollar in his box, down to the [Pg 387] bottom. ”

“ A light salad, prepared with a regard for harmony with the rest of the menu, is always acceptable at the luncheon. Desserts may be the same as those served for dinner,—jellies, frozen puddings, ice-cream, tarts, nuts, etc. It is not customary to retire to the drawing-room for coffee; it is good form to have it served at the table. If the weather is tempting, and if the hostess is so inclined, coffee may be served on the porch. ”