Eating in peace

Below is a classic outtake from Luis Bunuel's Phantom of Liberty, otherwise by no means his best film. In it (for those of you too busy to watch the 5 minutes) polite society is transacted as people sit on toilets around a table, where the mere mention of food is scandalous. Towards the end, a man discretely carries himself off to a little eating room at the end of the hall, where he gnaws on some chicken.

I was reminded of this by the lunch culture I see in lots of hard-charging corporate environments, where 90% of lunches are taken at one's desk, as efficiently as possible. Members of senior management may set tone by declaring that they "do not believe in lunch." So food becomes a thing of shame, the barest of necessities. A salad, even.