Yes, let’s retire the restaurant monologue. “The urge to direct diners through every bite of a meal runs counter to what I love about dining out, one of just a few cornerstones of American life that have not yet been optimized into oblivion.”
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Comments 1
ABSOLUTELY. I've come to really not enjoy superfine dining. And it's made me think of this word from industrial design: affordances.
An affordance is when a thing shows you how to use it: a meaty handle on a door that suggests "twist & pull!", or a wide flat bar on the other side that screams, "smack me & push!"
Fancy restaurant menus — and even the food on the plate — have NO affordances. It makes you dependent on the staff to explain the menu and then re-explain the food when it arrives. Beyond being performative (which, hey, I get: it's a show), it infantilizes the customer. I feel like an ass when I can't understand that those 6 ingredients are, well, a taco — as well as what the 6 ingredients are.
Fancy food needs more affordances. Let me understand this sh&t.
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