Although I doubt this story is particularly true, if the reduction in pay is roughly equivalent to the cost of food otherwise, employer-provided food is likely

Although I doubt this story is particularly true, if the reduction in pay is roughly equivalent to the cost of food otherwise, employer-provided food is likely still a net-benefit (if you often bring food from home this decreases for married couples, strongly decreases with children). If the food is provided to you at no cost but offsetting some salary, then you're at least preventing the government from double-dipping your taxes for those meals; you wont pay the sales tax on the food.