The many lunches of 1955

A day in the life of the USA, as seen through the midday meal

Hello, Snackers. I found this in the LIFE archives and thought you'd also enjoy it.

I was looking at the LIFE archives from 1955, as one does, and I found a special issue devoted to food. It ran on January 3 and, friends, it is a time capsule.

Aside from the usual head-scratching incongruity of old magazines—the chipper illustrations advertising cigarett…