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A lunch box [1] [2] [3] (alt. spelling lunchbox) [4] [5] [6] refers to a hand-held container used to transport food, usually to work or to school. It is commonly made of metal or plastic, is reasonably airtight and often has a handle for carrying. [7]
In the United States a lunchbox may also be termed a lunch pail, [8] lunch bucket or lunch tin, either as single words or paired.
The concept of a food container has existed for a long time, but it was not until people began using tobacco tins to carry meals in the early 20th century, followed by the use of lithographed images on metal, that the containers became a staple of youth, and a marketable product. It has most often been used by schoolchildren to take packed lunches, or a snack, from home to school. [7] The most common modern form is a small case with a clasp and handle, often printed with a colorful image that can either be generic or based on children's television shows or films. Use of lithographed metal to produce lunch boxes in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s gave way in the 1990s to use of injection-molded plastic.
A lunch kit comprises the actual "box" and a matching vacuum bottle. However, popular culture has more often embraced the singular term lunch box, which is now most commonly used.
With increasing industrialization resulting in Americans working outside the home in factories, it became unfeasible to go home to lunch every day, thus it was necessary to have something to protect and transport a meal. Since the 19th century, American industrial workers have used sturdy containers to hold hardy lunches, consisting of foods such as hard-boiled eggs, vegetables, meat, coffee, and pie. [9] David Shayt, curator of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, states that "Some of our earliest examples, from the 19th century, were woven baskets with handles. A meal would be wrapped in a handkerchief. Depending on your station, a fancy wooden box would be used by the wealthy." Tinplate boxes and recycled biscuit tins commonly were used in the early 1800s, and fitted metal pails and boxes began to appear around the 1850s. [10] Patents started to appear for lunchbox inventions in the 1860s.
Vacuum bottles, which enabled hot or cold beverages to remain at optimal temperature until lunchtime, became a common component of the lunch box. In 1920, The American Thermos Bottle Co. produced "the first metal lunch box for kids" to aid selling their vacuum bottles. [11]
The first lunch box decorated with a famous licensed character was introduced in 1935. Produced by Geuder, Paeschke & Frey, it featured Mickey Mouse, and was a four-color [11] lithographed oval tin, with a pull-out tray inside. It had no vacuum bottle, but did have a handle.
In 1950, Aladdin Industries created the first children's lunch box based on a television show, Hopalong Cassidy . The Hopalong Cassidy lunch kit, or "Hoppy", quickly became Aladdin's cash cow. Debuting in time for back-to-school 1950, it would go on to sell 600,000 units in its first year alone, each at US$2.39. In 1953, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were featured on models introduced by American Thermos. [11]
Over 450 decorated models quickly followed, and more than 120 million metal lunch boxes were sold between 1950 and 1970, often accompanied by a Thermos, initially made of metal and glass, and later plastic.[ citation needed ]
Lunch boxes have been manufactured using various materials. Typically, children's school lunch boxes are made of plastic or vinyl, while adult workers' lunch boxes are commonly made of metal, such as tin or aluminium, due to the greater need for durability. The aluminium variant was invented in 1954 by Leo May, a miner in Sudbury, Ontario, after he accidentally crushed his tin lunch box. [12]
Manufacturers grew to include ADCO Liberty, Kruger Manufacturing Company, Landers, Frary and Clark (Universal), Okay Industries, and a number of other producers through the 1980s.
The first use of plastics was the lunch box handle, but later spread to the entire box, with the first molded plastic boxes produced during the 1960s. Vinyl lunch boxes debuted in 1959.
During the 1960s, the lunch box had few changes. The vacuum bottle included in them, however, steadily evolved during the course of the decade and into the 1970s. What was originally a steel vacuum bottle with glass liner, cork or rubber stopper, and bakelite cup became an all-plastic bottle, with insulated foam rather than vacuum. Aladdin produced glass liners into the 1970s, but they were soon replaced with plastic.
Beginning in Florida during the 1970s, [11] with the lobbying of parents who claimed the metal boxes were being used as weapons in fights, [13] many schools in the United States banned metal lunch boxes. One of the last metal lunchboxes to be widely produced was one with a design promoting Rambo: First Blood Part II . [11]
Health concerns came to light in August 2002, when the Center for Environmental Health discovered that many popular vinyl lunch boxes contained dangerously high levels of lead. Many, though not all, were pulled from the shelves. [14]
In 2001, most major manufacturers began testing their lunch boxes for lead levels, remedied the issue, and labeled their boxes as lead free. [15]
Today, lunch boxes are generally made of plastic, with foam insulation, and an aluminium/vinyl interior. As a result, they are usually much better at retaining their temperature but are less rigid/protective. However, metal lunch boxes are still produced, just not as popular as they were in the 1960 through 1980's.
Some lunch boxes, including those from the 1950s and 1960s, sometimes sell into the thousands of dollars. In 1999, a "1954 Superman lunch box, made by Adco Liberty" was "gaveled down for $11,500" ("the highest auction price ever paid for a lunch box"). [11]
In the United States, the lunch box or lunch pail has been used as a symbol of the working class. The phrase "lunch pail Democrat" is used to classify populist politicians who attempt to gain the votes of the working class. [16] The New York Times printed in 2008 that Joe Biden is a lunch-bucket Democrat. While his father had been wealthy early in life, by the time Biden was born, the family was broke. [17]
Japan has a tradition of bento , individual portable meals, [18] that dates back several centuries and influenced other countries in South East Asia. Bento generally consists of rice and a number of other food items, transported within a lunchbox that has compartments to keep each item separate.
In Mumbai, India, there are extensive lunchbox delivery services, continuing a business model that originated in 1890, where delivery staff called dabawallas pick up metal tiffin carrier lunchboxes containing freshly cooked food, usually from the recipient's home, deliver them to people at their place of work and return empty lunchboxes. [19]
In Korea, the similar concept is known as dosirak.
In some South American countries, a lunch box is called "lonchera", [20] especially among school children, in assimilation of the English word "lunch".[ citation needed ]
A vacuum flask is an insulating storage vessel that slows the speed at which its contents change in temperature. It greatly lengthens the time over which its contents remain hotter or cooler than the flask's surroundings by trying to be as adiabatic as possible. Invented by Sir James Dewar in 1892, the vacuum flask consists of two flasks, placed one within the other and joined at the neck. The gap between the two flasks is partially evacuated of air, creating a near-vacuum which significantly reduces heat transfer by conduction or convection. When used to hold cold liquids, this also virtually eliminates condensation on the outside of the flask.
A bento is the Japanese iteration of a single-portion take-out or home-packed meal, often for lunch. Outside Japan, it is common in other East and Southeast Asian culinary styles, especially within Chinese, Korean, Singaporean, Taiwanese cuisines and more, as rice is a common staple food in the region. The term bento is derived from the Chinese term biandang, which means "convenient" or "convenience".
A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical cylinder or truncated cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom, attached to a semicircular carrying handle called the bail.
Tiffin is a South Asian English word for a type of meal. It refers to a light breakfast or a light tea-time meal at about 3 p.m., consisting of typical tea-time foods. In certain parts of India, it can also refer to the midday luncheon or, in some regions of the Indian subcontinent, a between-meal snack. When used in place of the word "lunch", however, it does not necessarily mean a light meal.
Ekiben are a specific type of bento boxed meals, sold on trains and at train stations in Japan. They come with disposable chopsticks or spoons. Ekiben containers can be made from plastic, wood, or ceramic. Many train stations have become famous for their ekiben made from local food specialties (tokusanhin).
A mess kit is a collection of silverware and cookware designed for use by military personnel for food and military rations. They may also be used during camping and backpacking. There are many varieties of mess kits that militaries issue to their personnel that later become available to consumers.
Victor Samuel Johnson Jr. was an American lawyer who was president of Aladdin Industries, a manufacturer of vacuum bottles, kerosene lamps, and stoves. He was notable for creating the market for decorative lunch boxes. The company was further diversified under Johnson's leadership. He was a businessman in Nashville, Tennessee.
An oyster pail is a folded, waxed or plastic coated, paperboard container originally designed to hold oysters. It commonly comes with a handle made of solid wire. It is often used by American Chinese cuisine restaurants in the United States to package take-out food. It can also be found in other Western countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, England and Brazil, but is rarely seen in China and other Asian countries with high numbers of ethnic Chinese.
Tiger Corporation is a Japanese manufacturer that applies vacuum insulation and heat control technology to consumer electronic appliances. Their headquarters are located in Kadoma City in Osaka, Japan. The company manufactures and sells appliances such as household and commercial vacuum insulated containers and stainless-steel bottles, along with cooking appliances such as rice cookers. The company also manufactures industrial parts and products used in automobiles, homes, air conditioners, space, and medical care in 60 countries around the world.
A bail handle, or simply bail, is a handle that consists of an open loop that moves freely within two fixed mounts or ears. It is a type of metal or plastic package handle used for carrying such items such tin cans, buckets, or kettles, or as a form of drawer pull. A bail handle can also be used to hang items such as IV bottles and potted plants.
A packed lunch is a lunch which is prepared before arriving at the place where it is to be eaten. Typically, it is prepared at home or at a hotel, or produced commercially for sale in vending machines or at convenience stores. They are often eaten in a school or workplace, or on an outing.
Stanley is an American brand of food and beverage containers invented by William Stanley Jr.
Aladdin is a brand notable for its line of character lunchboxes including Hopalong Cassidy, Superman, Mickey Mouse and The Jetsons. Today, Aladdin continues to be a food and beverage products brand and is owned by Pacific Market International, LLC of Seattle, Washington and Aladdin continues to be a kerosene lamps and wicks products brand and is owned by Hattersley Aladdin Ltd of the United Kingdom.
A lunch box is a container meant to store a meal for consumption.
Tiffin carriers or dabbas are a kind of lunch box used widely in Asia and the Caribbean for tiffin meals. From India, they spread to Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, where they are now widely used. They are also used extensively in Hungary, primarily to transport restaurant meals for consumption at home. The Hungarian version typically contains soup, a main course, and piece of cake. A very similar device is called Henkelmann in Germany. It is usually round or oval similar to military mess kits. The Henkelmann was very popular until the 1960s, but is very rarely used by Germans today.
Thermos LLC is a manufacturer of insulated food and beverage containers and other consumer products. The original company was founded in Germany in 1904.
In technical usage in the shipping industry, a pail is a type of cylindrical shipping container with a capacity of about 3 to 50 litres. It can have straight or slanted sides and usually has a handle or bail.
Dosirak (Korean: 도시락), also known as Gwakbap (곽밥) refers to a packed meal, often for lunch. It usually consists of bap and several banchan. The lunch boxes, also called dosirak or dosirak-tong, are typically plastic or thermo-steel containers with or without compartments or tiers. Dosirak is often home-made, but is also sold in train stations and convenience stores.
Desjardin is one of the longest-running French metal packaging manufacturers, founded in 1848. The company produces and exports packaging for multiple industries, including the pharmaceutical industry, the cosmetic industry or the food industry. Desjardin places emphasis on sustainable solutions for its packaging materials and its tools.
This lunch box from Jean-Georges Vongerichten
in American English, also lunch box
over the past century in the United States the most message-laden is the child's metal lunch box
I could count on eating as many as 15,000 sandwiches before my time was up... After 30 years of brown-bagging, I still look forward to the noon whistle
Media related to Lunch boxes at Wikimedia Commons
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