Luxury Lunchboxes Have Their Moment (Part One)

As more of us return to our offices for at least a few days a week, the time-old question arises: “what’s for lunch?”

Restaurant and café owners are hoping that returning workers will choose the social pleasures associated with indoor and outdoor on-site dining by promoting hygienic and comfortable spaces that meet the demands of this unique time. Sandwich shops, takeaway spots, and delivery services, on the other hand, are all counting on returning employees to opt for the convenience and more private experience of eating at their desks or somewhere in or near their offices.

But what about the third option? As millions of people across the world grew used to not just working from home, but also eating at home, a new generation of amateur cooks and chefs was born. For some, the development of previously unexplored culinary skills during the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns arose from necessity. For others, the chance to learn a new useful skill and feed oneself and one’s family in the process became a “labor of love.”

We can expect that many people returning to their offices who continue to cook at home may opt for the quality of a tasty home-cooked lunch that is “made to order” and the convenience and privacy of eating at the office. Which raises a different and related question: “how will we now transport our own hand-crafted lunchtime meal to our work environment?” With our renewed focus on global health and social well-being, pre-pandemic options for carrying food from home to the office, which were never environmentally friendly, healthy or practical, now seem “so 2019.”

Disposal plastic containers used to transport food to work do not readily break down into biodegradable components. And recent studies have shown that roughly 80% of plastics do not get recycled. Instead, single-use plastics fill our landfills, float in our oceans, and release greenhouse gas into the air when solar radiation causes them to degrade. Disposable plastics kill marine and wildlife and impact human health as well. So let’s rule them out as a sustainable option for bringing lunch from home in 2021.

Then, for many of us who recall having our lunch in grade-school cafeterias, there is the paper bag option. Typically made from recyclable paper, the paper bag takes a lesser toll on human and animal health and is more environmentally friendly. But is it practical to expect us to carry the risotto Milanese or steak au Poivre we crafted the night before into the office the next day in a paper bag? What happens in a grade school cafeteria may best remain in a grade school cafeteria.

Yet there is an alternative for bringing our leftover, home-cooked cuisine from the dining room to the board room — the lunchbox. No, I’m not talking about the cheap aluminum or plastic receptacle you might have used as a child to carry your lunch, the one with your favorite cartoon character imprinted on the front. I’m talking about the next generation of luxury, eco-friendly, temperature-retaining lunchboxes that can both carry gourmet meals and convey gourmand status.

In fact, let’s stop calling them lunchboxes. They’re “luxboxes” designed for the conscientious employee and corporate executive alike. And in my next article, I’ll discuss how this alternative method of meal transport has and continues to be used in several parts of Asia and why the time for the “luxbox” has finally arrived in the West.

Danilo Diazgranados is an investor, collector, and lover of fine wines and a member of the prestigious Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, a fraternity of Burgundy wine enthusiasts.