However, the idea of communal eating is not dead - cf. buffet offered by many Indian and Chinese restaurant. It is a very socialistic concept - you pay a modest fixed fee and eat all you can.
Another observation - restaurants promote internationalism. You can have experience of many distant lands without leaving NYC or DC. "Ethnic" restaurants really bring people who otherwise be inhabiting separate spheres together.
And then there is the whole bohemian sub-culture that simply would not be possible without the restaurant. Restaurants do offer public spaces in otherwise privatized environment where different sub-cultures can congregate.
It is also worth mentioning that there is a big difference between US and European restaurants. In Europe you can sit in a restaurant virtually as long as you want, whereas in the US the waiters signal it is time to leave as soon as end eating. Also in Europe waiters are more like other employees - they work for wages (not bad on the top of it). In the US they are more like personal servants - they are paid below minimum wage and earn money from tips. This difference also manifests in the amount of ass-kissing by waiters - much less common in Europe than in the US.
Wojtek
On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 5:03 AM, Ismail Lagardien <ilagardien at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi Everyone
>
> I wrote this piece several months ago and never quite discussed it with anyone. While the piece is light and silly in places, I make some assertions about capitalism towards the end. Let me know what you think, and what "additions" i should make to the post. If you want to leave a comment, please do so. I will gladly add all your comments and suggestions. And please.... I have nothing to gain from "self-promotion". I keep my personal blog space quite private, and have no desire to "monetise" drive viewers to the site or get more "hits"... So I am not looking for"hits" or "traffic". Maybe someday, but right now I am concentrating on other writing
>
>
> "The Russian Bolsheviks placed an emphasis on the communal kitchen and dining room as an essential of universal equality. At the time, Marxist, more appropriately, Soviet idealism infused true believers “with a delight in communal cooking and state-run cafeterias at the same time that it shamed the private diner”. Restaurants were denounced as “a waste of resources catering to the elite at the expense of the poor” and “the best way to manage equipment, food, fuel, and labour was to cook large amounts at once to serve many people,” Snodgrass explained.
>
>
> http://www.ilagardien.com/?p=2658
>
>
>
> I
>
>
> Ismail Lagardien
>
> Nihil humani a me alienum puto
> ___________________________________
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-- Wojtek http://wsokol.blogspot.com/