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Term: Shared seating arrangements.

Appearance: Lengthy, uncomfortable and back in fashion.

The Return of Communal Eating? Oh no. The Only Acceptable Place for Long Benches is the School Canteen

What kind of adult chooses to dine alongside strangers? Gen Z, apparently. According to data from the dining booking company Resy, "Nine out of ten of gen Z diners say they enjoy shared seating, compared with just six in ten of older generations".

A Sign of the Times. Before Complaining Regarding Younger People

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

I Suppose It Made Sense During Times of Rationing, But Why Do It Now?

It’s an alien concept for you, I know, but shared dining can be fun! As Pablo Rivero notes: "They naturally turn dinner into a shared experience," and "The excitement lies in not knowing your neighbor!"

The Enjoyment From An Interrupted Meal by A Loud Conversation That Their Therapist Says They’re “a Highly Sensitive Empath”

Or sitting beside a Hyrox bore eating chicken to fuel his "workout routines"? Or a nano-influencer capturing you in the background in their video as they massacre a salad? You have to remember: young adults – the most digitally connected group, who came of age during the pandemic, and many of whom entered an almost exclusively digital workplace – love a structured communal activity. This same desire driving the popularity of youth running groups, group hikes and crafting nights: they’re craving offline social connection.

I Prefer Dining in One of Those One-Person Ramen Booths Found in Japan.

You might not fancy it, but lots of young people are lonely (47% of them, according to an Oxfam study published in June). A recent American study a third of males aged between 18 and 23 reported they hadn’t seen anyone outside their household in the previous seven days. Isn’t it a good thing they’re going out and sharing meals with new people?

Perhaps. Research Shows Those Dining in Groups Report Greater Happiness

Talking to strangers is beneficial, 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. Since young people are leaving dating apps, this gives them a shot at a unplanned "meet-cute".

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

My work here is done.

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

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