16 hours ago
9
Name: Communal tables.
Appearance: Long, awkward and back in fashion.
Communal dining is back? Oh no. The only acceptable place for refectory tables is the school canteen, and even then they’re pretty terrible. Who would voluntarily eat with strangers as an adult with free will? Gen Z, apparently. According to Business Insider, data from the restaurant reservations company Resy reveals “90% of gen Z diners say they enjoy communal tables, compared with just 60% of boomers”.
I’ve never felt more out of touch. Before you start harrumphing about the youth of today, communal eating in patriotic “British Restaurants” was a big thing during the second world war, actually – there were about 2,500 of them, supported by Winston Churchill.
I suppose it made sense when food was scarce, but why do it now? It’s an alien concept for you, I know, but communal tables can be fun! As Pablo Rivero, the CEO of Resy, explains: “They naturally turn dinner into a shared experience,” and “You never know who you’ll be seated next to; that’s the fun of it!”
The “fun” of having dinner interrupted by someone explaining loudly that their therapist says they’re “a highly sensitive empath” as they elbow you in the face reaching for the soy sauce? Or being squeezed next to a Hyrox bore chomping chicken breasts to fuel his “farmer’s carries”? Or a nano-influencer capturing you in the background of their reel as they massacre a salad? You have to remember that gen Z – the most online generation, who came of age during the pandemic, and many of whom entered an almost exclusively digital workplace – love a structured communal activity. It’s the same impulse behind the rise of young people’s running clubs, group hikes and crafting nights: they’re craving offline social connection.
I’d rather eat in one of those one-person ramen booths they have in Tokyo. You might not fancy it, but lots of young people are lonely (47% of them, according to an Oxfam survey published in June). In a 2023 US report, one-third of men aged between 18 and 23 reported they hadn’t seen anyone outside their household in the past week. Isn’t it a good thing they’re getting out and breaking bread with strangers?
I suppose. Research shows people who eat socially “more often feel happier and are more satisfied with life”. Talking to strangers is good for us, too: it gives us a greater sense of belonging. Plus the Resy data highlights an additional benefit: one in seven survey respondents said they’d landed a date at a communal dining experience. Given gen Z have gone off the apps, this gives them a shot at a spontaneous (ha ha) “meat-cute”.
I hate that pun almost as much as I hate communal tables. My work here is done.
Do say: “Gen Z think communal dining ate and left no crumbs.”
Don’t say: “It’s all fun and games until someone drops a katsu prawn on your Y2K baggy jeans.”
