Let’s bring back the lunch box

When the Ulterior Epicure remembered a childhood metal lunchbox featuring the cast and crew of The Dukes of Hazzard, it seemed to raise a good point about whether we have let the practical demands of bringing our lunch to work take away some of the joy we once felt sitting down at cafeteria tables and snapping open our decorated boxes.

It makes sense that, once we started packing our own lunches, it’s anticlimatic to open a lunchbox. Without the element of surprise — namely the possibility of a treasured dessert — there is only the certain reality of leftovers. And if you’re bringing your own lunch to save money, it can transform the mid-day meal in the same way having to shovel your own driveway changes the way you look at the first snow of the season.