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Term: Shared seating arrangements.

Appearance: Long, awkward and back in fashion.

The Return of Communal Eating? Oh no. The Only Acceptable Place for Refectory Tables 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, "90% of gen Z diners say they enjoy communal tables, versus just 60% of older generations".

A Sign of the Times. Before Complaining Regarding Younger People

Group dining in nationalistic eateries was a big thing during the WWII, actually – there were about two thousand five hundred of them, backed by Winston Churchill.

It Was Logical During Times of Rationing, But Why Do It Now?

It’s an alien concept for you, admittedly, but shared dining can be fun! As Pablo Rivero notes: "They naturally turn dinner into a shared experience," and "You never know who you’ll be seated next to; that’s the fun of it!"

The “Fun” of An Interrupted Meal by Someone Explaining Loudly That Their Therapist Revealing They Are an Empath

Or sitting beside a fitness enthusiast chomping chicken breasts to fuel his "farmer’s carries"? Or a nano-influencer filming you accidentally in their video as they massacre a salad? You have to remember: young adults – the most online generation, 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 young people’s running clubs, group hikes and art nights: they’re craving offline social connection.

I Prefer Dining in a Solo Ramen Stall They Have in Tokyo.

This may not appeal to you, but lots of young people are lonely (Nearly half of them, according to an Oxfam study released this summer). A recent American study a third of males aged between 18 and 23 reported they had no contact outside their household in the previous seven days. Isn’t it a good thing they’re getting out and breaking bread with strangers?

Perhaps. Research Shows Those Dining in Groups Report Greater Happiness

Talking to strangers is good for us, too: it enhances our feeling of community. Plus the Resy survey highlights an additional benefit: 14% of survey respondents said they’d found a romantic partner at a shared meal event. Given gen Z have gone off the apps, this offers a chance for a spontaneous "meet-cute".

That Joke Annoys Me Nearly as Much as I Hate Communal Tables.

Mission accomplished.

Appropriate comment: "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."