“They had no budget, it was foie gras and Kobe steaks every day”

In Silicon Valley, free food is a necessary perk for companies looking to attract and retain talent. But even more than that, it’s a badge of honor, an emblem of company culture. Airbnb serves breakfast and lunch in a friendly, open kitchen that may lack Google’s frills — there is no stove or oven, for instance — but nonetheless has a grill on the roof. At Facebook, longtime legendary chef Josef Desimone, stolen from Google in 2008, has kept up traditions like “Nacho Thursdays” and added fun features, like a Willy Wonka-all chocolate dinner and a Simpsons-inspired meal (pork chops.) Other places with free food include Zynga, Twitter and Dropbox. Apple, famously, does not have a free food program — according to journalist Adam Lashinsky, who has written extensively about the company, it is emblematic of Apple being a “grown-up place.”…

“That’s a funny culture because they’ve had free food for so long. They absolutely expect it and expect it a certain way,” Lippman said. “They had no budget, it was foie gras and Kobe steaks every day.”