Eating is intimately connected with sex roles, since the responsibility for each phase of obtaining and preparing a particular kind of food is almost always allotted according to sex. Members of one sex, generally the males, may be served first, and particular foods may be regarded as appropriate to each sex. Husbands and wives in some parts of Melanesia and Polynesia are not supposed to see each other eat; in Arabia, Japan, and parts of eastern Europe, women do not eat until the men in the family have finished their meals. In some societies, on the other hand, eating with the family is so traditional that workers are given long midday breaks so that they can go home for lunch. After World War II, hungry Greeks preferred to carry home the hot soup given them by the Red Cross and eat it there with their families rather than in the warm Red Cross canteens. At marriage celebrations in northern Europe during the Middle Ages, it was considered an important moment when the couple ate together—which is apparently the origin of the custom that prevails today in North America and in parts of Europe of watching the new bride and groom share the first slice of wedding cake.