Jennifer Whillans, Lecturer in Sociology at SPAIS, has been investigating what our ‘sad desk sandwich’ says about British working culture. Could it be there’s more than low standards at play?
Research shows that 28% of British workers eat at their desks and 44% eat alone, the highest rates in Europe.
This habit both disgusts and amuses other Europeans. As a French scholar put it, ‘a sandwich or salad gulped down in front of a computer screen does not pass as a proper meal’.
So why do we do this?
Up until now, studies have almost exclusively used large-scale surveys. These reveal patterns of behaviour and trends, but to understand why people eat the way that they do, we need in-depth interview data.
‘Most people greatly anticipate their lunch, seeing it as a reward for work and a time to eat what they wanted.’
In her latest research, Whillans interviewed 21 people about what, where, and with whom they ate their lunch. She found much more variety in workday lunches than the solitary ‘al desko’ sandwich.
Some participants admitted that the workday lunch was not exactly a premium gastronomic experience. One man described lunch as ‘my functional eating thing’.
But most people greatly anticipate their lunch, seeing it as a reward for work and a time to eat what they wanted. Their lunch was seen as a chance for personal indulgence, while avoiding others’ distaste.
Whillans’ participants considered walking and waiting for their food a waste of time, with many bringing their food from home. People used their break for a leg stretch then – to minimise time away from work – ate back at their desks.
‘[…] Putting minimal effort into lunch is another response to a working culture that’s getting more demanding.’
To avoid the emotional effort of eating with others, some participants would signal that they wanted to be left alone by scrolling on their phone or hiding in their car. One woman said ‘eating with other people interferes with [the] pleasure of looking after yourself’.
Whillans suggests that British lunch habits aren’t simply a matter of low standards.
They’re about balancing the pressures of work and the need for efficiency with looking after yourself and navigating social interactions. Like ‘quiet quitting’ and the ‘great resignation’, putting minimal effort into lunch is another response to a working culture that’s getting more demanding.
Your employer (through setting workload) or even the government (through labour laws) may be having more of an influence on what’s for lunch than we thought.