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,
Nordic bread culture once a month, or more often during the summer. During storage, these breads gradually became drier and drier, even if they were carefully wrapped in cloth or placed in grain bins. However, dry bread was also more economical and eating fresh bread was considered a luxury. A high intake of wholegrain bread has been typical of Norwegian bread eating habits for both breakfast and lunch. A special preparation was used to make leavened oven baked bread longer-lasting. This was particularly necessary for ships’ crews on long voyages. This consisted of wholegrain balls cut in two and dried in an oven