Do you go out to a restaurant for your work meal break?

[Bethislucy]

I bring my lunch to work and then walk. It's one of the ways I save for Disney trips

 

[tvguy]

The reason that a state capital city usually has a "lunch economy" is because of the lobbyists; they buy lunches for legislators and for bureaucrats, whose support they wish to have for the causes they are being paid to push. It's also fairly common for politically-appointed department heads and/or attorneys to buy lunches or evening meals for staff and have them delivered, if there is a big deadline project that needs to get done ASAP.

Personally, the answer is no; I'm not well-paid enough to afford to eat out on days when I work in the office, nor do I have the time, because my office is in suburbia, and it's the equivalent of a 6-block round-trip walk to my parking area from my office. Our standard lunch break (unless the boss is treating for some reason) is 30 minutes. I refuse to use 3rd-party delivery services just on principle; around here they tend to cost more than the meal itself.

The paper work involved in reporting those "gifts" in California really cut into the ability of lawmakers to accept those lunches. . But yes, in the 1960's and 1970's a lot of legislative deals were made on napkins in Capitol area restaurants, and usually, bars. Not anymore.