Ploughman's lunch term "ploughman's lunch" is believed to date no further back than the 1950s, when the Cheese Bureau (a marketing body affiliated with the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency) began promoting the ploughman's lunch in pubs as a way to increase the sales of cheese, which had recently ceased to be rationed. Its popularity increased as the Milk Marketing Board promoted the meal nationally throughout the 1960s. Pierce the Ploughman's Crede (c.1394) mentions the traditional ploughman's meal of bread, cheese and beer. Bread and cheese formed the basis of the diet of English rural labourers for centuries, with skimmed-milk cheese, supplemented
Nordic bread culture that bread and bread meals have a high food cultural value in Norway. Six out of ten considered taking a packed lunch (matpakke) to work or school a good habit and something that they enjoyed. Many new types of bread have reached the market in recent years. A high percentage of people reported eating bread types such as spelt, specialty, gourmet, and fibre/bran bread, as well as ciabattas and baguettes, regularly, although very few reported doing so on a daily basis. Norwegian bakers now have competition from abroad. The wholegrain bread from local bakers must give way to huge lorry