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Name: Shared seating arrangements.

Look: Lengthy, uncomfortable and making a comeback.

Communal Dining is Back? Not Again. The Only Acceptable Place for Long Benches is the Cafeteria

Who would voluntarily eat with strangers as an adult with free will? The younger generation, it seems. According to data from the restaurant reservations company Resy, "Nine out of ten of gen Z diners say they like shared seating, compared with just six in ten of boomers".

A Sign of the Times. Before Complaining About the Youth of Today

Communal eating in nationalistic eateries was a big thing during the WWII, in fact – there were about two thousand five hundred of them, backed by Winston Churchill.

I Suppose It Made Sense When Food Was Scarce, But Why Do It Now?

This might seem strange to you, I know, but shared dining can be enjoyable! As Pablo Rivero notes: "Dinner becomes a collective event," 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 That Their Therapist Says They’re “a Highly Sensitive Empath”

Or sitting beside a Hyrox bore chomping chicken breasts to fuel his "workout routines"? Or a social media user capturing you in the background of their reel as they massacre a salad? Consider this: gen Z – the most online generation, who grew up during COVID, and many of whom entered an almost exclusively digital workplace – love a structured communal activity. This same desire driving the popularity of young people’s running clubs, hiking outings and art nights: they’re craving offline social connection.

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

This may not appeal to you, but lots of young people are lonely (47% of them, as per an Oxfam study published in June). In a 2023 US report , one-third of men aged between 18 and 23 reported they had no contact outside their household in the past week. Isn’t it a good thing they’re going out and sharing meals with new people?

Perhaps. Studies Indicate People Who Eat Socially More Often Feel Happier

Talking to strangers is good for us, too: it gives us a greater sense of belonging. Plus the Resy data points out another advantage: one in seven survey respondents said they’d found a romantic partner at a communal dining experience. Given gen Z have gone off the apps, this gives them a shot at a unplanned "meet-cute".

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

Mission accomplished.

Do say: "Gen Z think communal dining ate and left no crumbs."

Inappropriate remark: "It’s all fun and games until someone drops a katsu prawn on your Y2K baggy jeans."