Paper Bags

02/06/08

Posted by Ben

London’s efforts to ban the plastic bag seem to have been extended to the paper bags that used to flood out of Soho’s sandwich shops. Until recently, it was clear where most people you saw in the street had gone to buy their lunch from the brightly coloured, overly chunky and instantly recognisable excess packaging they were carrying around. But now it seems that the takeaway lunch has gone bagless and anonymous, with most outlets actually asking whether or not you want a bag before thrusting your bagels (or whatever) into one.

This has to be good for the environment, and it doesn’t cause any practical difficulties as I rarely carry my lunch for more than 200 yards before stopping somewhere to eat it. It must also save the owners of sandwich shops a heap of money, as bags of the quality we used to see can’t be cheap. But it has created a different problem for me, and I can’t believe that I’m the only one to have come across it. There are, quite simply, too many food options in Soho to make choosing your lunch, or even the continent your lunch is based on, easy. This wasn’t an issue before: I could step onto the street with an open mind, and wait to be inspired by one of the bright bags I saw swinging past. But if I tried that now I’d be wandering around for ages before making a decision – and that decision would probably involve a trip to somewhere obvious and predictable. So now I actually have to think about what to have for lunch before going out to find it. This makes me wonder: do people who work around here have more predictable lunches than they used to? Are they having the same thing from the same place day in day out? And if so, do they remember the good old days of variety, and do they want them back?