It’s a pretty stark difference. One of the first social projects the Soviets embarked upon, to the point that they were doing it while they were still busy fighting the Civil War/Revolution, was establishing communal canteens for working people. The image of a great granddad in a canteen with his coworkers is burned into the psyche of every post-Soviet country, as surely as the image of American great granddads all sitting on a precariously high steel beam eating their box lunches is to Americans. A culture where food was provided versus one where food had to be brought.
Not just that, but think of the division of labour
A Soviet canteen was being run by people who wanted to cook, and were being paid a living wage to provide food for their comrades. An American factory worker likely had a lunch prepared by their wife who already had to deal with all the rest of the domestic labour for free, worse if she was working because she’d have to do all the domestic work then actual work, or if not that they’re buying it from an underpaid cook in a restaurant who’s paid barely above poverty wages
It’s a pretty stark difference. One of the first social projects the Soviets embarked upon, to the point that they were doing it while they were still busy fighting the Civil War/Revolution, was establishing communal canteens for working people. The image of a great granddad in a canteen with his coworkers is burned into the psyche of every post-Soviet country, as surely as the image of American great granddads all sitting on a precariously high steel beam eating their box lunches is to Americans. A culture where food was provided versus one where food had to be brought.
Not just that, but think of the division of labour
A Soviet canteen was being run by people who wanted to cook, and were being paid a living wage to provide food for their comrades. An American factory worker likely had a lunch prepared by their wife who already had to deal with all the rest of the domestic labour for free, worse if she was working because she’d have to do all the domestic work then actual work, or if not that they’re buying it from an underpaid cook in a restaurant who’s paid barely above poverty wages