When our ancestors were peasants in the earliest days of agriculture, the daily schedule was: work in field all day, eat midday meal in field, continue working in field. Today, after centuries of human advancement, it goes something like: work in coffee shop all day, buy and eat lunch there, continue working on laptop until the sun sets. Though it may seem like the tech boom and gig economy(临时工经济) led the way in this modern mobile work style, working and dining have always been closely connected. In major cities like New York, Washington D.C., Sydney and Hong Kong, restaurants are changing into official co-working spaces during off-peak hours.

Dr. Megan Elias, director of the gastronomy program at Boston University, says food and business have been linked since as far back as the ancient Sumer (who established civilization as we know it around 4000 B.C.) “What we think of as street food has always been part of human civilization,” she says. “There have always been marketplaces where humans came together to conduct some kind of business — like trading grain, trading animals or building houses. As long as there have been marketplaces, people have been eating at them while also doing business.”

The first example of a brick-and-mortar “restaurant” came during the merchant economy in the 15th and 16th centuries, according to Elias. During this stage in European, African, and East and South Asian history, inns allowed merchant businessmen to rest — and of course, eat — throughout their travels. During the colonial era of the 1600s and 1700s, concrete examples of American restaurants emerged as “Coffee Houses”. Coffee Houses were places that had newspapers, which at the time were very small and commercial,” author and social historian Jan Whitaker explains.

Coffee houses remained tradesman staples throughout the early 19th century, with simple menu items like rolls and meat pies. More “grand meals,” as Elias calls them, were still taking place within homes for non-traveling folk. But, when the U.S. began industrializing in the 1840s and people stayed near workplaces during the day, eating establishments popped up around factories.

“Industrialization of the city is also restaurantization of the city,” Elias says. “Places sprung up to serve a business lunch crowd and an after-work dining crowd again, still doing business.”

Try Making Them into Treats

It’s fine to shop at farmers’ markets and grocery stores for recipe ingredients（原料）. But what if you could gather some of them by yourselves, and at the same time, help rid your region of non-native plant species that are harming the ecosystems?

According to the National Wildlife Federation, about 42 percent of today’s threatened or endangered species are at risk because of invasive（有侵略性的）species. Here are four invasive plants and ideas for serving them up.

KUDZU

Brought to the US from Japan, the kudau vine can grow a foot a day, robbing other plants of sunlight. Its beautiful flowers bloom from July to September, but its leaves, roots, and vine tips are more readily available. Pick flowers to use in making drinks.

HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRY

Native to Armenia, the plant has threatened other species. It blocks access through woods and affects livestock. Its fruit starts to ripen in midsummer and the berries can be added to hake goods such as muffins.

SOW THISTLE

Its roots crowd out useful crops and suck water and nitrogen from the soil. Native to Europe and western Asia, it grows all over North America in spring and summer. Try coking the leaves in olive oil and adding them to a cake.

WATERCRESS

European settlers brought this leafy green to the Colonies. It spreads along waterways, crowding out native plants.

Harvest it from the edge of a running stream in spring and fall to make sandwiches.

In Russia, guests almost receive a warm welcome. People in the country go out of their way to make sure visitors have everything. In ancient Russia, bread and salt symbolized boom and health, so hosts would put on their best clothes and offer bread together with salt to their guests.

【小题1】 No bread at home means there’s nothing to eat — no meal doesn’t include bread. “Bread is the staff of life” is probably the most famous Russian proverb.

Today, there is no shortage of salt in the world. 【小题2】 During the mid-17th century the rising price of salt led to riots (暴乱) in Moscow. The salt tax was completely abolished (废除) at the end of the 19th century — only afterwards did salt become affordable. 【小题3】

According to tradition, guests are greeted by ladies in national costumes with a large round loaf on a towel with a salt shaker on top. The guests should carefully break off a piece of the bread, dip it in the salt and eat. 【小题4】 An old belief is that if the worst of enemies share bread and salt, they will reconcile (和解).

In today’s Russia, this tradition is still popular. It can be witnessed during official receptions, as well as in restaurants prepared for foreign tourists. 【小题5】 Parents of the newlyweds welcome their children with bread and salt after the ceremony. The husband and wife should break off a piece of bread, dip it in salt, and feed each other. This is a sign that they are ready to share any difficulties in life and always take care of each other.