Work and family life

Release[edit]

"Food for Thought" was released as a double A-side single with "King" on local independent label Graduate Records.^[A] The single lists "King" as the first A-side and Bob Lamb has explained that "Food for Thought" was originally the B-side and that "King" "was always gonna be the main song". However, "Food for Thought" was picked up by radio disc jockeys and therefore gained more airplay than "King" because "it was quicker and chirpier, more dancey, more of a radio track".^[7]
The original single version of "Food for Thought" is slightly shorter compared to the Signing Off album version, with the album version including a break using a synthesiser reverb (an early example of their mixing techniques that can be found on their remix album Present Arms in Dub).
Released at the beginning of February 1980, the single entered the UK Singles Chart a month later in the first week of March and reached it peak of number four six weeks later in the second week of April.^[2] It became the first single to make the top ten without the backing of a major record company.^[12] The single performed even better in New Zealand where it topped the charts for four weeks and became the first hit there on an English independent label.^[13][14]

Food for Thought (restaurant)

Food for Thought was a vegetarian restaurant in the Seven Dials district of London's Covent Garden.^[3] Founded in 1971 in a former banana warehouse, it later closed in 2015 due to rising rents.^[4]

History[edit]

The restaurant was founded by Margot Boyce-White in 1971 when the relocation of London's fruit and vegetable market to New Covent Garden caused the area to be redeveloped. The premises in Neal Street had formerly been used as a banana warehouse. The business changed hands in 1977 and was owned by Vanessa Garrett, daughter of the couple John and Jane Damant, who bought it. Rising rents caused the restaurant to close on 21 June 2015.^[1]
The counter-culture activist Sue Miles worked at Food for Thought, so starting a career as a restaurateur.^[5]
The restaurant was patronised by workers in the nearby businesses of the Covent Garden district, which included the numerous theatres. Acts which ate there included the Red Hot Chili Peppers.^[6]