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Term: Shared seating arrangements.

Look: Long, uncomfortable and back in fashion.

The Return of Communal Eating? Not Again. The Sole Appropriate Location for Long Benches is the School Canteen

What kind of adult chooses to dine alongside strangers? The younger generation, it seems. According to data from the restaurant reservations company Resy, "90% of gen Z diners say they enjoy communal tables, versus just six in ten of older generations".

A Sign of the Times. Before Complaining Regarding Younger People

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

It Was Logical During Times of Rationing, What's the Appeal Today?

This might seem strange to you, I know, but shared dining can be fun! As Pablo Rivero explains: "Dinner becomes a collective event," 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 Revealing They Are an Empath

Or being squeezed next to a fitness enthusiast chomping chicken breasts to fuel his "workout routines"? Or a social media user filming you accidentally of their reel while eating a salad? You have to remember: young adults – the most digitally connected group, who grew up during COVID, and many of whom entered an almost exclusively digital workplace – love a structured communal activity. It’s the same impulse behind the rise of youth running groups, hiking outings and art nights: they’re seeking real-world interactions.

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 (Nearly half of them, as per an Oxfam survey published in June). A recent American study a third of males 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 getting out and sharing meals with new people?

Perhaps. Research Shows Those Dining in Groups More Often Feel Happier

Conversing with new people is good for us, too: it enhances our feeling of community. Plus the Resy survey points out another advantage: 14% of 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: "Young adults believe shared meals are a total success."

Don’t say: "It’s all fun and games until someone drops a katsu prawn on your Y2K baggy jeans."