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Term: Shared tables.

Look: Long, awkward 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? Gen Z, it seems. According to data from the restaurant reservations company Resy, "90% of gen Z diners say they enjoy communal tables, compared with just six in ten of older generations".

I’ve Never Felt More Out of Touch. Before You Start Harrumphing About the Youth of Today

Communal eating in patriotic “British Restaurants” was a major trend during the second world war, in fact – there were about two thousand five hundred of them, supported by Winston Churchill.

I Suppose It Made Sense When Food Was Scarce, But Why Do It Now?

It’s an alien concept for you, admittedly, but communal tables can be fun! As the Resy CEO notes: "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 sitting beside a fitness enthusiast eating chicken to fuel his "workout routines"? Or a nano-influencer filming you accidentally of their reel 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 behind the rise of youth running groups, group hikes and art nights: they’re craving offline social connection.

I Prefer Dining in a Solo Ramen Stall Found in Japan.

This may not appeal to you, but lots of young people are lonely (47% of them, according to an Oxfam study released this summer). A recent American study , one-third of men aged between 18 and 23 reported they hadn’t seen anyone outside their household in the past week. Isn't it positive they’re getting out and breaking bread with strangers?

Perhaps. Studies Indicate Those Dining in Groups More Often Feel Happier

Conversing with new people is beneficial, too: it enhances our feeling of community. Additionally the Resy survey highlights an additional benefit: 14% of survey respondents said they’d landed a date 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.

Appropriate comment: "Gen Z think communal dining ate and left no crumbs."

Don’t say: "Things are fine until food spills on your vintage clothes."