Meet Me For Le Déjeuner

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Did you know that it is illegal to eat lunch at your desk in France? I wrote that sentence while eating a taco bowl at my desk but thankfully my desk is not in France.

French laws outlawed eating in the workplace during the Industrial Revolution when it was deemed unsafe due to factory conditions. That created a different problem though: civilians out and about at lunchtime, littering and harassing one another. Eventually the French figured out how to behave and having lunch out became a national virtue.

During the pandemic, the government asked workers to go back to eating at their desks and there was a revolt. People who oppose this argue that eating out is healthier due to socialization and the mental break. Now the French are back to eating their lunch out by law and I dare say they wouldn’t have it any other way.

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