"Eating out is a major social activity in England and makes up about a third of what we spend on food. This is a quite recent change. In the past people ate away from home mainly from necessity, refuelling their bodies for work; men bought from street-sellers and cookshops or ate and drank in pubs or clubs. Eating out for pleasure was mainly restricted to the wealthier classes when travelling or on holiday, and women did not normally eat in public places. It was only after World War Two that eating out became common to all classes - men, women and young people - as a result of rising standards of living, the growth of leisure, and the emergence of new types of catering with wide popular appeal.". "This book traces the changes in eating out since the early nineteenth century when England was becoming an urban, industrial society. It describes the eating out habits of the rich, the middle classes and the poor; what and where they ate and how much they paid. It examines a wide range of eating places, from coffee rooms and chop-houses to luxury hotels and Edwardian dining, from cafes and fish and chip shops to burger bars and ethnic restaurants." "But eating out is not simply a way of satisfying appetites. It is now an established part of modern leisure, bringing social and psychological satisfactions well beyond the food itself, and has central importance to the way we live and eat today."--BOOK JACKET.