The Three Martini Lunch Exposed.

On Saturday at a local charity shop I found a lovely collection of mid-century Japanese glassware in my favorite "bamboo" pattern. There were about 30 glasses in a range of cocktail shapes, including sherry glasses, brandy snifters, liqueur glasses, champagne coupes, and six of the cutest little martini glasses you have ever seen. Herein lies the secret to the Three Martini Lunch, the martinis were tiny.


Above is a photo of the mid-century martini glass (on the left) and a modern martini glass (on the right). The modern glass is not a particularly large example, either - just a standard glass out of my cupboard. (The little blue figure standing in front of the glasses is a Lego minifg, for scale.) The photo does not exaggerate the difference. The mid-century glass holds 2 ounces, filled to the brim. The modern glass holds nearly 8 ounces, similarly full. So three martinis in 1964 would barely equal one martini today.

This reflects a general difference when comparing vintage to modern table ware. Plates, tea-cups, cutlery, everything was smaller scaled. And, of course, servings were smaller, too, unless you had three of them.