Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

renzata, your wedding story reminded me of a friend from college whose mexican mother and aunties made and served the food for her reception. we had enchiladas, beans and rice, and it was soooo delicious. i sat at a table with some members of the groom's family, none of whom had ever before encountered so much as a tortilla. they were very good sports about it.

the nicest wedding i ever went to {the bride told me she'd been planning it since she was a girl, and it was perfect, the music, the food, everything} ended in a divorce just three years later.

i have a large collection of ziplock plastic containers. i take lunch and snacks with me every day. usually i have a selection of cut up veggies {carrots, bell pepper, jicama, fennel, rutabaga, cucumber, raw snow peas, sugar snap peas, and turnip} a little bag of walnuts and a few dried figs or apricots, some seasonal fruit {lately either grapes or strawberries} and either a sandwich {my current favorite is sunflower seed butter and banana} or a little hunk of cheese and a few crackers. sometiimes i also bring a little container of yogurt if i'm going to be gone all day.

if i have leftover interesting veggies from last night's dinner i'll take them too, but i make sure to put them in a leakproof container.

i was a vegetarian from the age of 18 to 22. what did me in was a plate of prime rib at a hotel in kansas city. it just looked so good, i was starving, and the alternative was a crappy looking industrial iceberg lettuce salad and an anemic little roll. i had always been a meat lover, had embraced vegetarianism in college during the 70's after reading frankie lappe´, and always struggled against my carnivorous inclinations.

interestingly, years and years later, i find myself not especially wanting to eat meat at all these days. i haven't consumed animal flesh, except for the occasional tuna sandwich, in months. although generally i am a very healthy eater, and in addition to the fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains i eat daily, i eat plenty of nuts, seeds, yogurt, eggs, and cheese, i am bemused to report that my ability as an athlete seems to have suffered as a result. i don't recover as quickly after my workouts, i can't run as far or as fast, and i can't lift as heavy weights or complete as many sets as i was doing as a meat eater.

a few years ago i was in a relationship with someone who insisted on having meat at every meal, and when i left, it was such a relief to not have to cook and eat it all the time. i'm much thinner and happier basing my diet on salads and veggies, although i am somewhat concerned about my workouts deteriorating. we'll have to see. i don't call myself a vegetarian right now, because i don't want to label myself or call attention to my private eating habits {i live alone, so there's no one to please but myself}.

i wasn't a fan until about half an hour ago. now i'm hooked. thanks for the heads up! hilarious!

sunflower seed butter for me!

@wookie-- your korean wedding sounds like what mine will be like. ive joked around about it with my mom, even though there's not one in sight, and she's always said they're going to make all the food themselves, hehe
there's definitely going to be 2 separate receptions.

the most fun wedding I've been to was in upstate-upstate New York, in the Adirondacks. The ceremony was on on the 2nd level of a boat dock, it was really small and intimate, but the reception was huge. They grilled, we danced, we drank, we swam (pre-drinking and there were sober people watching), and it was just so relaxed. The bride, groom and wedding party did dress up for the ceremony, but got more casual for the reception. They're both way too into nature and chill to have the typical reception in a rented hall, so I feel like it suited them both perfectly.
They're both vegetarian, and I don't know who or where they got the food from, I think they brought in a friend from Ithaca, but it was by far some of the best vegetarian food I've ever eaten. They also brought in steaks and chicken for the meat eaters.

The best wedding reception food I have ever had was at my sister's wedding reception.
Fajitas and margaritas.

It was at Las Alamedas in Houston, TX. which is a Mexican restaurant. It is a big beautiful building with windows all along the back dining room that looks out into woods and a bayou. We had the whole restaurant.

When I did this - I most often took a bagel sandwich - ham and cheese or whatever was left over. The "bread" doesn't get soggy or squished in your briefcase or purse or computer bag. And, it almost looks like something you bought from a deli - and "looking" bought can make it easier to eat in when everyone else is eating out. Mostly: minimal effort.

I love the bean salad idea. I too rarely use the fridge at work. I bring stuff like noodles stir fried with veggies. Rice with leftovers from dinner. When I bring salad it tends to be things like cucumber and tomato in greek dressing (ie things that can sit in dressing for hours) I also love pasta salads especially orzo.

It's not really about lunches but as a word of caution, I urge you to bring plenty of whatever it is you like to drink. Unless it's soda. I rarely drank cokes and refused to drink Diet Coke until i worked in an office.

For food, it's nice to be considerate of others and not bring anything too strong or unusual in smell. That can linger, and even if it was positively delicious to you when you tucked into it, not everyone may appreciate it, and even you might not around 4 in the afternoon when it's still there.

Generally, I found that anything based on rice or noodles worked out well for lunch, and that I preferred packing a sandwich to a big salad of greens (in regular life, it's vice versa).

There can be other pitfalls in the work lunch/food arena. I never ate candy on a daily basis except for when I worked in an office. People have it at their desks and it's hard not to go for it. I couldn't believe how entrenched a 4pm hershey fix could become.

Kudos for knowing well enough to brown bag, though. Conversely, though, you'll learn when to accept the invitation to join the group. The intangible benefits can definitely exceed the menu price, and if budget's really tight, I recommend having a savings set aside..