The Lost Ritual of Lunch: A Tradition Ready for Rebirth

There was a time when eating together wasn’t just about feeding oneself. It was a ritual, a social act charged with political, cultural, and emotional significance. Lunch wasn’t merely a break in the day, but a moment of exchange, confrontation, and collective growth. Today, this ritual seems to have all but disappeared, devoured by the speed and hyper-productivity of modern life. Perhaps it’s dying, perhaps it’s already dead. But I believe in rebirth.

In the age of endless reels glorifying food, we’ve reduced the act of eating to pure performance or, worse, to a mechanical necessity to fuel ourselves for work, sports, or errands. Food has become a transaction: intake, output, repeat. What we’ve lost is context — the home, the table carefully set with plates, cutlery, pitchers, and shared bowls. What we’ve lost is the sacred pause, the shared conversation, the space where opinions and stories travel from one person to another over a bowl of salad or a piece of bread.

Across most of the philosophies, lunch has never been merely a meal. In the Mediterranean tradition, it has been the hallmark one — a time to gather, to discuss, to rest and recuperate in each other's presence before life's demands return. In the practice of Zen, meals are times of conscious existence, where every gesture — from pouring water to presenting a dish — is undertaken with consciousness and gratitude. This was most aptly stated by the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, who penned the following, "We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink". To him, the person with whom one sat at the table mattered much more than the food. Lunch is not merely a biological requirement — it's a social ceremony, a space where happiness is cultivated, connections are established, and life reveals some of its easiest, most delicious pleasures.
Yet, the question remains: can this ritual be revived? I think so. I believe especially in the new generations, who are showing an unexpected sensitivity to the value of time, community, and authenticity. More and more, I see young people choosing to cook together, to host lunches that last hours, to rediscover the beauty of setting a table with care, to bring back the art of sharing — not just food, but ideas, fears, and dreams. Perhaps the ritual of lunch isn’t dead — it’s simply waiting for us to notice it again.

Fortunately, not all is lost. Today, there are brands, designers, and cultural movements actively engaged in restoring the ritual of breaking bread together — not just with words but with objects, gestures, and thoughtfully designed thinking. They see that the table is more than a piece of furniture; it is a platform on which stories, traditions, and relationships are built. They invite us to stop and relish once again the poetry of communal eating through the work that they do celebrating the act of gathering. Of all the brands spearheading this resistance against superficial eating, Mono and Service Projects stand out.

Mono, in its unassuming but intimate manner, produces pieces that hang precariously in the balance, threatening to vanish into thin air in their subtlety, making the people, the food, and the dialogue at the table take center stage. Beginning in Germany in 1959, Mono has been a lightning rod for timeless design — where function always guides form, and each item is stripped bare of the unnecessary to reveal only what it must.

Photography: Jakob Storm for Mono, captured at Possi during 3 Days of Design.

Their iconic Mono A cutlery, which Peter Raacke designed, is a prime example: clean lines, no decoration, just balance, precision, and honest craftsmanship. These are not objects to blind with pomp but to accompany — to be unobtrusively present in the background as facilitators of genuine conversation and connection. In fact, Mono's philosophy is to create long-lasting products that resist both physical and aesthetic obsolescence, quietly promoting a more sustainable and thoughtful way of living.

Images: Top image by Haw-lin Services; bottom two images by Jakob Storm for Mono, captured at Possi during 3 Days of Design.

The material choices — stainless steel, high-quality porcelain, fine yet sturdy finishes — reveal an attention to durability and tactility. Handling a Mono object becomes an intimate gesture: it feels right in the hand, not because it seeks to amaze, but because it respects the user and the ritual itself. Mono’s collections are not tied to trends, nor are they nostalgic. They quietly construct bridges between ancient traditions and modern life, providing tools for everyday rituals many of us have lost but long for. In doing so, Mono quietly invites us to take back the table not as a temporary refueling station, but as a space where life can unroll at its own pace.

Photography: Jakob Storm for Mono, captured at Possi during 3 Days of Design.

Service Projects approaches the table through a different but equally intentional lens. Founded in late 2022 in New York and now based in Copenhagen, the brand offers a carefully curated range of homeware designed to bring timeless, functional objects back to the center of everyday life. Like Mono, it places value on simplicity, durability, and the quiet power of well-made tools. The collections reflect a thoughtful blend of global influences — from travel and culinary traditions to architecture and design — creating objects that feel rooted, versatile, and emotionally resonant.

Photography: Peter Vinther for Service Projects

What is especially interesting about Service Projects is the way in which the brand emerged from a strong admiration for industrial tableware — stainless steel in particular — that has been prized for its robustness and quiet elegance in commercial kitchens, restaurants, and cafés.

Photography: Service Projects

But Service Projects did not stop there. Over time, they have developed their own product lines — objects that are as functional as they are refined. Their pieces are shaped by a rich blend of global influences: from the essential lines of Japanese izakayas to the conviviality of Italian osterias, from the charm of French bistros to the clean, thoughtful design culture of Copenhagen. The brand also draws from architecture, cinema, furniture design, and everyday life — fields where craftsmanship and longevity remain essential.

Photography: Peter Vinther for Service Projects

So, perhaps the real question is not whether the ritual of lunch is dead — but whether we are still willing to fight for it. Are we prepared to slow down, to set the table with care, to carve out time not just to feed ourselves but to truly nourish each other? Or will we keep letting the rhythm of life be dictated by urgency, until even the simplest pleasures quietly slip away?

The choice, after all, is still ours.

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Words: Simone Lorusso

Cover photography by Martina Borsche for Mono