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1.
I remember the first time I went to get lunch at my first 9-to-5 job in New York City, in 2015. I didn’t bring lunch from home – after all, I had just moved to one of the world’s culinary meccas, so I was excited to see where my new workmates would lead me. Maybe one of the city’s famed delis for a sandwich? A hidden hole-in-the-wall in nearby Chinatown, perhaps?
2.
Instead, we lined up in a massive queue, with dozens of phone-scrolling people, snaked around the block. When we entered the shiny storefront, I saw that it was a takeaway salad place; it was packed, loud and fast. I had to scream my order to the super-efficient staff, who made my salad in front of me. When I got to the till, the bill was nearly $15.
3.
That was my first experience of New York City’s “salad culture”. Office workers across the country and world may have heard of the “sad desk salad” – joylessly eating a bland bowl of romaine for lunch in front of your work computer. But in New York, and other major metropolitan centres including San Fransicso and Washington, DC, the desk-salad experience has been elevated to new heights; some takeaway chains have become worth billions in a few short years, as pricey fresh-made salad has become synonymous with office jobs.
How does this story compare to the work-lunch experience in Tokyo?
– How about other places in Japan?
4.
As workers return to their desks after months of work-from-home, queues are already reforming at New York City’s premium chains, indicating that salad culture will withstand the pandemic. Why are we so in-thrall to these lunch offerings – and is there a message in there about long hours and performative work cultures? Or do we just really like salad?
6.
Most of these salads cost at least $10, and eating them signifies a certain urban, aspirational lifestyle – some media outlets call Sweetgreen, arguably the most popular company operating in this space, “the new NYC power lunch”. Other big players include chains called Chop’t and Just Salad, all of which are ubiquitous in Manhattan.
What are some food trends that “exploded” in Tokyo? Now and in the past
7.
“Nowadays, every block has one” of these salad takeaways, says Hans Taparia, clinical associate professor of business and society who specialises in the business of food at New York University in New York City. Part of the attraction, of course, is that salad is healthy (depending what you put in it). Choosing one to eat at the office sends an image of responsible self-restraint to others – you’re far too healthy for that 1,000-calorie burger, after all.
8.
The sentiment that salad is a diet food, and one that should be required eating for responsible adults, particularly hits women in our society, as seen with the “woman alone laughing with salad” meme a few years back. (Though men are not immune to judgement; I remember once being openly mocked for eating McDonald’s at work.)
