For once we can celebrate a British custom: grabbing lunch away from your colleagues to do whatever you like
I
t’s often striking to me – as a British person and a Francophile – what prompts bewilderment among the French. Most recently, an article in Le Monde describes a concerning trend: younger adults are choosing to dine alone during their lunch breaks, flying in the face of longstanding workplace tradition. Almost one-third of employees under 25 regularly lunch alone, according to a survey by Openeat, compared with 22% of 25- to 34-year-olds, 16% of 35- to 49-year-olds and 12% of over-49s.
These statistics were shocking to me too, but in entirely the opposite way: so few? I forgot that when I was a waitress in Paris, I would serve groups of colleagues all the time. Whenever I visit, I am always struck by tables of people in workwear eating a prix fixe lunch menu of several courses, normally traditional French fare and often with a glass of wine. It always seems so very civilised. This culture may well be shifting, but it remains far more the norm there than in this country.
I love a big French lunch, but I don’t idolise it in the way I used to, and here is why. There isn’t much that makes me proud to be British, but a widespread, discreet understanding of other people’s right to alone time is one such thing. If my colleague wants to peruse the property section of the New York Times while eating fish and chips in the canteen during her lunch break, I would not feel offended, even if I am in that same canteen. She has two kids – who am I to deny her that moment of peace and tranquillity? Eating with colleagues can be lovely, but it’s not something anyone should be expected to do all the time, against their will.
