Social Dining: How about having dinner with me?
Social Dining: How about having dinner with me?
Throughout history, the act of sharing a meal has always been synonymous with conviviality. Until recently though, mealtimes have generally been considered private occasions – a view now set to change with the emergence of a new trend: social dining.
The social dining concept involves creating an experience by gathering a group of strangers around a dinner table, at a private home or in an unusual setting, in an atmosphere that is just like "being at home". In social dining, the dining table is more than ever used as a way of getting people to socialize. While the concept itself is not new (across the Atlantic, it has been around for some ten years already), it has taken on a new dynamic since the advent of Web 2.0 and the social networks. Guests register online, share their location on Foursquare, post photos on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, and so on. There is VizEat in France; Cookapp in Argentina and New York; EatWith in Tel Aviv (Israel), Rome (Italy), Porto (Portugal), Paris (France) and Sao Paulo (Brazil); plus VoulezVousDîner in Cape Town (South Africa), San Francisco (USA), Tokyo (Japan) and Sydney (Australia), to name just a few. All over the world, platforms are springing up to list these new-style hosting tables, selected according to the desired type of cooking and location, the language spoken by the host or the price, just as you would for a conventional restaurant.
So, what about the food? Like with restaurants, there is something to suit everyone from well-known dishes expertly prepared with perfect cooking and seasoning to the more rough and ready home-cooking style. Potential diners can get an idea of what's on offer by reading the reviews left by previous guests, since, while the idea is to share a friendly and convivial moment, the meals can sometimes be as pricey as a Michelin-starred restaurant...
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