New York Public Library presents Lunch Hour NYC, a free exhibition on view through Feb 17, 2013.
The clamor and chaos of lunch hour in New York has been a defining feature of the city for some 150 years. Now, The New York Public Library explores New York’s relationship with the midday meal in Lunch Hour NYC.
Organized in four thematic sections— quick-lunch, lunch at home, charitable lunch, and power lunch—Lunch Hour NYC reveals how the city’s pace and people have influenced where and what we eat. From kitchen tables to cafeterias, oysters to Jamaican beef patties, the changes in lunch reflect demographic shifts, economic development, and the city’s historic appetite for new foods.
While some classics endure—the “power lunch” restaurant has been with us since Delmonico’s set the standard in 1837—other features of the city’s culinary landscape have transformed over the years, especially in response to new waves of immigration.
“Lunch Hour NYC is the best kind of food story, full of familiar landmarks but with a history that’s new to most people,” said culinary historian Laura Shapiro, co-curator of the exhibition with NYPL Librarian Rebecca Federman. “If you want to explore the place where food, people, and New York City come together, it has to be lunch.”
Visitors will learn about the development of the public school lunch program in New York, which began as a charitable service for underserved children in 1908; how street foods like pretzels, pizza, and hot dogs gained their New York identity; how changing fashions contributed to the rise of salad and other diet food; and how the demographics of New York’s workforce guided the spread of new kinds of restaurants, including cafeterias and the Automat.
Lunch Hour NYC highlights books, pamphlets, photographs, menus, manuscripts, and memorabilia from various collections at The New York Public Library.
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Gottesman Exhibition Hall
Fifth Ave at 42nd Street, Manhattan
Monday, Thursday-Saturday: 10 a.m.– 6 p.m.
Tuesday & Wednesday: 10 a.m.– 8 p.m.
Sunday: 1– 5 p.m.
(917) ASK-NYPL (275-6975)
http://www.nypl.org/lunchhour