A few weeks ago, I was discussing with Daisy about eating in restaurants alone. She did it often, preferring to go to places by herself, a characteristic of her loner side. Me, always seeking acceptance, ate out only once alone, because my friend never made it and I wasn\’t going to waste a 40 minute trip to a nice restaurant.
Yet why is it that the world is almost made for couples? Why is it that when a single diner arrives at a restaurant that they are shown to either the counter (where they must share with other single diners) or a two person table (where the host takes away one set)? It had always bothered me and that\’s why I was so reluctant to eat alone…but being forced to in Boston since Karen couldn\’t eat out and was working.
So the other day, I reluctantly ate at American Joe\’s Grill and Bar (because I couldn\’t find any other restaurant near the Aquarium – apparently I didn\’t know that Faneuil Hall Marketplace was nearby until later), a sit-down type restaurant. After 20 minutes of waiting, I was finally led to a 4 person table where the hostess allowed me to choose a seat before she took the other 3 table settings away. It was strange at first. I am used to idly chit-chatting with someone until the server returns to take my order. But after awhile, I noticed how beautiful the nightsky was as well as the Boston harbor from my outside table. It was nice, and it makes me wonder how other diners would notice when they\’re engaged in obligatory conversation.
The last time I ate with one other person at an upscale restaurant…I had felt so awkward. But I couldn\’t absorb the environment around me because we were forced to make conversation because we hadn\’t seen each other for awhile (our fears/habits/beliefs had changed so much that we had little to talk about). Would I trade an awkward dinner for a dinner alone? Probably. Still, I wouldn\’t go to an expensive restaurant by myself, because one of the great things about restaurants is to share the joy of a satisfying meal (and eat other people\’s food of course).
Well there are two ways that people view eating. The first is that food is a necessity for survival. The other is that eating is a community observance. I used to make a dinner for myself from scratch often, like the kind mom made. That has since gotten old. I don’t eat enough to warrant spending an hour and a half on a meal for one. A TV dinner or frozen pizza suffices. I’ll survive till tomorrow.
The second does not celebrate the food per say, but rather the communal aspect of the meal. I think that this is a very important aspect to eating. You don’t see me making a Thanksgiving Turkey for myself but I spend most of the day with the family preparing dinner, longer actually eating, and longer yet (not really but it feel that way) cleaning up. This community is not a new thing. If you look back to biblical times there are a multitude of feasts which are still celebrated, and much of the time Jesus spent with his disciples revolved around food (including his first miracle).
All that said, yeah, I wouldn’t go to a sit down restaurant by myself (with some exceptions) either. The community is what makes it worth while.
Now who is LEE and why did you steal his site.
Never mind about LELE. I guess I should have read the other comments from the last post huh?