WORKING GIRLS IN PARIS OFFERED 11 CENT LUNCH AT THE AMERICAN CAFETERIA
Paris, France (JFK+50) On September 30, 1926, Associated Press reports that The American Cafeteria here in Paris is offering an 11 cent lunch to working girls of the city.
The idea for the "cheap lunch" came from The Salvation Army's working girls hotel, Palais de la Femme*.
The 11 cent lunch includes soup, hors d'ceruvre, meat, two veggies, dessert, bread and drink.
JFK+50 NOTE
If you were to buy this lunch in Paris today (2026), it would cost between 20 & 45 Euros ($22.78-$45^). So they say "there's no such thing as a free lunch," it seems a century later there's no such thing as an 11 cent lunch either.
^converting 2026 $s to 1926, however, would be ($1.10-$2.37).
*Palais de la Femme was a social hotel with 143 rooms. It was used as a hospital during WWI & acquired by the Salvation Army in 1926 which turned it into a shelter for single women.
SOURCE
"Paris Working Girls Get 11-Cent Lunches," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 30, 1926, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
