Free lunch facts for kids

A free lunch is when a meal is given away without any cost. This was often done to attract customers and encourage them to spend money on other things, like drinks.

This idea was very common in saloons and taverns (places where people gathered to drink and socialize) in the United States, especially from around 1870 to the 1920s. These places would offer a "free" lunch, which could be simple or fancy, if you bought at least one drink.

Often, the free lunch was worth much more than the cost of a single drink. The owner of the saloon hoped that most customers would buy more than one drink. They also hoped this practice would make people want to come back often.

During the Great Depression, a time when many people had little money, this practice mostly stopped because it was too expensive. It never really came back in the same way. Today, you might still find free food or drinks, especially in places like casinos, which are gambling establishments. Also, during "Happy Hour" at some lounges, you might get free appetizers or cheaper food items.

The saying "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch" comes from this practice. It means that even if something seems free, you usually end up paying for it in some way. For example, a company might offer something free to get your attention, so they can then sell you other things or use your attention to make money.

How it Started

In 1875, The New York Times newspaper wrote about very fancy free lunches. They said it was a special custom in New Orleans. The newspaper reported that "In every one of the drinking saloons which fill the city a meal of some sort is served free every day." This custom seemed to have been around even before the American Civil War.

The reporter also said that thousands of men in New Orleans lived entirely on these free meals.

A free lunch counter was a place where everyone was equal, no matter their social class. When a man stood in front of one, he couldn't act too important. In New Orleans, all kinds of people ate these free meals. They would push and try to get more food a second time. At one saloon, six men were making drinks for the crowd. The price for every kind of drink was fifteen cents. Even fancy drinks like punches cost the same as a glass of ale.

The free meal included "huge dishes of butter," "large baskets of bread," and a "monster silver boiler filled with a very good oyster soup." There was also "a round of beef that must have weighed at least forty pounds." Other dishes included "potatoes, stewed mutton, stewed tomatoes, and macaroni."

The owner of the saloon said that some customers would come every day. They would buy one fifteen-cent drink and eat a dinner that would cost them $1 in a regular restaurant. Then, they would even complain that the beef was tough or the potatoes were watery!

People Who Loved Free Lunches

Someone who relied on free lunches was sometimes called a "free-lunch fiend." This was a known type of person in society. In 1872, The New York Times wrote about people who didn't work but still "got along" by visiting saloons. They would try to get free drinks from strangers. If they weren't offered a drink, they would eat as much as they could. Then, when the bartender was busy, they would try to leave without being noticed.

In American saloon bars from the late 1800s until Prohibition (when alcohol was made illegal), bouncers had a special job. Besides removing people who had too much to drink, or troublemakers, they also protected the saloon's free buffet. To attract customers, many saloons offered a "free lunch." This food was usually very salty to make people thirsty and buy more drinks. The bouncer was there to stop people who ate too much!

This custom was very popular in San Francisco. An 1886 story about the end of the 1849 California Gold Rush days called the "free lunch fiend the only landmark of the past." It asked, "How do all these idle people live?" and said, "It is the free lunch system that keeps them alive. If you took away that special California tradition, they would all starve."

Rudyard Kipling, a famous writer, visited San Francisco in 1891. He wrote about a barroom where men were "wolfing food from a counter." He realized it was the "free lunch" system. He noted that "You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat." He added that for less than a rupee (a type of money), a person could eat very well in San Francisco, even if they had no money. He told people to remember this if they ever got stuck there.

In a 1919 novel, a war zone was compared to the free lunch experience. It said that "the shells and shrapnels was flyin round and over our heads thicker than hungry bums around a free lunch counter."