Noshing in New York
It goes without saying that I’m a big fan of the New York Public Library (NYPL). Not only is the collection amazing, the exhibits are superb too. The latest one is called Lunch Hour NYC.
On view at the main library on Fifth and 40-42nd Streets in the heart of the hustle and bustle of midtown, the exhibit states that “lunch is the one [meal] that acquired its modern identity here on the streets of New York.” I believe it.
Lunch Hour NYC details more than a century of New York lunch habits including the legendary Automat, the power set locations, the delicatessens, the packed lunch, the quick-lunch, the food carts, the food trucks, the food trends and everything in between. Drawing on materials from the Library’s expansive collection, the exhibition explores the ways in which inventive, obsessive and hungry New Yorkers defined their lunch hour.
The exhibit is rich in history and visuals, and full of many surprises documenting lunch trends as the decades turned – with the influx of immigrants, as more people worked in, and moved to the city, and as lunch time became ever more short. Well worth a trip on your lunch hour or half hour – grab a nosh and go.
The New York Public Library
Lunch Hour NYC continues thru 17 february 2013
September 25th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
the hot dog cart was a great invention. It got me through many afternoons. Chicago doesn’t really have hot dog carts except at sporting events.
May 1st, 2013 at 10:20 pm
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