WORDS ANNA BERRILL
When it comes to eating out, for most of us, two’s company, as the saying goes. However, with our burgeoning casual dining scene offering a comfortable setting for the lone eater, coupled with the positive effects of a date for one – from clearing your mind to unlocking creativity – attitudes are changing. Solo dining is on the rise. A survey revealed 73 per cent of us have no problem eating out on our own, with 22 per cent having done so in the last week. While the majority opted to eat solo because they valued having time to themselves, other reasons included being able to choose the restaurant and not feeling obliged to share your food. Dining on your own has in the past been heavily stigmatised, evoking images of a Bridget Jones type aching with loneliness in social Siberia. As the French sociologist Jean Baudrillard put it, ‘Sadder than the beggar is the man who eats alone in public.’ Now, we’re finally coming around to the idea of dining solo without shame. Eating alone can in fact be one of the most empowering and pleasurable things you can do unaccompanied – at the time of writing, there are over 13,000 Instagram posts tagged #SoloDining, featuring steaming bowls of ramen sat next to books, and epic brunches for one accompanied by a stack of magazines.