🔗 Share this article

Term: Communal tables.

Appearance: Lengthy, awkward and back in fashion.

Communal Dining is Back? Not Again. The Sole Appropriate Location for Refectory Tables is the Cafeteria

What kind of adult chooses to dine alongside strangers? Gen Z, it seems. According to data from the restaurant reservations company Resy, "90% of young adult patrons say they enjoy communal tables, versus just six in ten of boomers".

I’ve Never Felt More Out of Touch. Before Complaining Regarding Younger People

Group dining in nationalistic eateries was a big thing during the second world war, actually – there were about two thousand five hundred of them, supported by Winston Churchill.

I Suppose It Made Sense During Times of Rationing, What's the Appeal Today?

It’s an alien concept for you, admittedly, but shared dining can be fun! As the Resy CEO 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 Enjoyment From Having Dinner Interrupted by Someone Explaining Loudly About Their Therapy Says They’re “a Highly Sensitive Empath”

Or sitting beside a fitness enthusiast chomping chicken breasts to fuel his "workout routines"? Or a nano-influencer capturing you in the background of their reel as they massacre a salad? You have to remember: young adults – the most online generation, who came of age during the pandemic, and many of whom entered an almost exclusively digital workplace – enjoy organized group events. It’s the same impulse behind the rise of youth running groups, group hikes and art nights: they’re craving offline social connection.

I’d Rather Eat in a Solo Ramen Stall Found in Japan.

You might not fancy it, but lots of young people are lonely (Nearly half of them, according to an Oxfam study released this summer). In a 2023 US report , one-third of men aged between 18 and 23 reported they had no contact outside their household in the previous seven days. Isn’t it a good thing they’re going out and breaking bread with strangers?

I Suppose. Studies Indicate People Who Eat Socially Report Greater Happiness

Conversing with new people is beneficial, too: it enhances our feeling of community. Additionally the Resy data highlights an additional benefit: 14% of survey respondents said they’d landed a date at a shared meal event. Given gen Z have gone off the apps, this offers a chance for a unplanned "meat-cute".

I Hate That Pun Almost as Much as I Dislike Shared Seating.

Mission accomplished.

Appropriate comment: "Gen Z think communal dining ate and left no crumbs."

Inappropriate remark: "Things are fine until food spills on your vintage clothes."