Communal dining can cause a range of problems with cross-eating and food thieves. Photo / iStock
Communal dining can cause a range of problems with cross-eating and food thieves. Photo / iStock
In case you missed it: This was one of Life & Style's biggest stories from 2015.
Thursday Nov 19, 2015
We're all taught to share from a very young age. So it should come naturally to us. Yet sharing food with others at a restaurant can be a minefield. When it comes to sharing, there are two distinct types of restaurants. There are those - such as Thai, Chinese, Indian and tapas style - in which sharing is a key (arguably even essential) part of the experience. Then there are the more conventional Kiwi restaurants where diners each order their own personal meal as well as some side dishes that may (or may not) be shared.
It all sounds very simple. The food is communal in the first example while in the second example the food on the plate in front of you is for your exclusive enjoyment. That would be the end of the story if it wasn't for the myriad pitfalls that can trap the unwary. Here are six potential difficulties associated with sharing meals when dining out.
Over recent years the number of restaurants specialising in sharing plates has increased dramatically. It's my favourite dining style for sure. It's relaxed, convivial and you get to try all sorts of flavours. What could go wrong? Well, the worst misstep is when serving utensils are not provided with the communal dishes. I have not seen this occur in traditional Thai, Chinese or Indian establishments. The restaurants that perpetrate this crime are those uber-trendy, well reviewed, too-cool-for-school, inner city places that make you feel that serving utensils must be so 2014.
In such places, diners are forced to use their own forks to scoop the food onto their individual plates. Clearly, this is pretty unhygienic once the forks have been used. When dining with the husband and daughter I don't mind this, but it's really awkward when you're not so closely connected to diners at your table.
Note to restaurants: if you are offering plates to share you need to ensure sharing can be facilitated without diners transmitting whatever diseases they have to others.
2. Requests to try your food
I don't think anyone has ever asked to taste food off my plate. This is good because I wouldn't be too receptive to the idea. In my book, you're either sharing communal food or you're eating your own food. Attempting to sample another person's individual meal just strikes me as random. Logistically, I'm not sure how it would work either since both forks would probably have already been used by the time you were ready to play swapsies. Unless you are relaxed about a cross-contamination situation, it's advisable to decline all requests from people who wish to taste your meal.
3. Chip thieves
I wouldn't be too happy if someone stole a chip from my plate without asking. What a liberty! Having said that, I don't hesitate to purloin French fries from my husband or daughter - because, you know, we're related. So what do you do if a random person at your table lurches towards your chips? If your reflexes are good you can slap their hand as it moves towards its target. Tempting as it may be, stabbing the offending hand with your fork is not recommended; it's unlawful and antisocial but, most importantly, you don't want to contaminate your fork.
4. Inappropriate pizza slicing
Do not leave contaminated pieces of pizza for your fellow diners. Photo / iStock
If you cut up a communal pizza with your knife and (used) fork you must take the piece of pizza that has had the fork in it. Do not leave the piece that your fork has contaminated for a fellow diner - unless, of course, they've annoyed you and you want to share your germs with them.
5. Sharing a pudding
These days, wait-staff frequently assume that people will share desserts. "And two spoons," they often add when my husband orders dessert and I do not. This, I reckon, would be annoying if you were the person who had ordered dessert but I think it's great. Sometimes all I feel like is two or three spoonfuls of crème brulee. But, again, desserts are best shared with significant others or maybe your offspring. My twelve-year-old, however, is not fond of sharing her pudding. Whenever she orders dessert I quite like adding: "And three spoons please" just to see the expression on her face.
6. Premeditated cross-eating
I have encountered stories of people who (in a traditional restaurant in which each diner orders their own meal) reckon the point of dining out is to sample as many dishes as possible. Say there are three of them at the table, they each eat a third of their own meal before passing it on to the next person who will then pass it on to the final diner once they've had their share. I'm not loving this model. Passing around a plate intended for a single diner just seems a bit clumsy. If you're keen to sample lots of different flavours then perhaps you could consider dining at an establishment that specialises in communal plates. There's certainly no shortage of those. You might like to bring your own serving utensils though; sometimes they can be hard to come by.
