Ploughman's lunch many pubs served little else: in 1932 Martin Armstrong described stopping at village inns for a lunch of bread, cheese and beer, noting that "On these occasions in country inns when bread, cheese and beer seem so extraordinarily good, the alternative is generally nothing; and compared with nothing bread, cheese, and beer are beyond compare". By the 1950s the meal was certainly being referred to by forms of the name later used to promote it. In 1956, author Adrian Bell reported: "There's a pub quite close to where I live where ... all you need say is, 'Ploughboy's Lunch, Harry,
Bread and salt goodness, and salt prosperity and security for the guest. It is part of the state protocol, in use since the Principality of Serbia, often used when welcoming foreign representatives. In Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, bread and salt were traditionally given as a symbol of blessing for a new home. Instead of white bread, dark fiber-rich rye bread was used. Bread and salt are given away for different reasons: In northern Germany and Bohemia (Czech Republic) bread and salt are traditionally put into the diaper of a newborn. In Transylvania bread and salt are served to protect against weather demons.