Room and board

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This article is about the general concept. For other uses, see Room and board (disambiguation).

Room and board describes a situation where, in exchange for money, labor or other considerations, a person is provided with a place to live as well as meals on a comprehensive basis. In some countries this is translated literally as "room and food".[citation needed]

"Board" may refer to the table on which food is served.

It also occurs in hotel-style accommodation for short stays.


Two commonly encountered boards are:

  • Half Board, where the host provides only a breakfast and dinner meals.
  • Full Board, where the host provides all three daily meals.

Another option is:

In popular culture[edit]

A missive in the 1990s stated that the phrase "chairman of the board" referred to the one person allowed to sit at a chair while others sat on benches. However per this is largely apocryphal.[1]

See also[edit]

  • Bistro, a type of informal French restaurant that may have started in the basement of apartment buildings
  • Boarding house
  • Sideboard, an article of furniture from which food is served in a dining room


  1. ^ History Lessened