一個人吃飯有什么大不了的?

一個人吃飯有什么大不了的?

When you see someone eating alone in a restaurant, do you think they're brave or lonely?

當(dāng)你看到有人獨自在餐廳吃飯，你認為他們是勇敢還是孤獨?

Food writer Suzanne Lenzer says it's likely the latter.

美食作家蘇珊娜·蘭澤說，答案很可能是后者。

Eating alone can be a time to catch up on your thoughts. (Photo: Radiokafka/Shutterstock.com)

"From day one we learn to eat in the company of others, and we figure out fast that the kids who eat alone at school are the kids who don't have anyone to eat with," she wrote on Mark Bittman's blog, which is no longer active. "Socially, eating alone is not a sign of our strength, but of a lack of social standing."

她在馬克·比特曼的博客上寫道:“從第一天起，我們就學(xué)會了和別人一起吃飯。我們很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些在學(xué)校里一個人吃飯的孩子，其實是沒有人一起吃飯的孩子。在社交方面，獨自吃飯并不是我們力量的標志，而是缺乏社會地位的表現(xiàn)。”

The culture of eating alone

獨自吃飯的文化

Eating together is one of the few near-universal cultural habits. (Photo: Milles Studio/Shutterstock)

The act of eating is a shared one across cultures. In fact, in Thailand, eating alone is thought to attract bad luck, and in South Korea, many restaurants discourage solo dining.

飲食行為是跨文化的共同行為。事實上，在泰國，一個人吃飯被認為會招來厄運，而在韓國，許多餐館都不鼓勵獨自用餐。

"For Koreans, eating is an extremely social, communal activity, which is why even the Korean word 'family' means 'those who eat together,'" Professor Sung-hee Park of Ewha University told CNN.

梨花大學(xué)教授Park Sung-hee在接受CNN采訪時表示:“對韓國人來說，吃飯是一種非常社會化、群居的活動，這就是為什么韓國單詞‘家庭’的意思是‘一起吃飯的人’。”

But the stigma of eating alone isn't unique to Asian cultures.

但獨自吃飯的恥辱并非亞洲文化獨有。

"Our restaurants just aren't made for people who want to eat alone," writes Radhika Sanghani in British Newspaper The Telegraph. "The entire restaurant culture is built around eating with companions, sharing and talking."

英國《每日電訊報》的Radhika Sanghani寫道:“我們的餐廳不是為那些想要獨自用餐的人準備的。整個餐廳文化都建立在與同伴一起吃飯、分享和交談的基礎(chǔ)上。”

According to the 2006 American Time Use Survey, 58 percent of Americans regularly eat on their own, but there's a difference between eating alone at home and dining solo in public.

根據(jù)2006年美國人時間使用調(diào)查，58%的美國人經(jīng)常自己吃飯，但是一個人在家吃飯和一個人在公共場所吃飯是有區(qū)別的。

"There's an idea here that you're overindulgent if you go out to dinner alone," says Joe Yonan, food editor at The Washington Post and author of the "Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One." "People in other cultures seem more comfortable eating out alone."

《華盛頓郵報》的美食編輯、《自便:為他人做飯的夜間冒險》一書的作者喬•約南說:“這里有種觀點認為，如果你一個人出去吃飯，你就太放縱了。在其他文化中，人們似乎更喜歡獨自外出就餐。”

Yonan says he'd feel more comfortable dining alone in Europe than in America, noting that Europeans "appreciate that you want to go out primarily for the food and not necessarily for the company."

Yonan說，他覺得在歐洲獨自用餐比在美國更舒服，他指出，歐洲人“欣賞你出去主要是為了食物，不一定是為了公司”。

Of course, not all cultures are as solo-diner friendly.

當(dāng)然，并不是所有的文化都對單人用餐者友好。

"Dining alone in Korea will draw stares from others that enter the restaurant," writes Daniel Gray on Korean food blog Seoul Eats. "It might be seen as rude for you to take up a table by yourself and you eat all the side dishes (banchan) and main course by yourself."

丹尼爾•格雷在韓國美食博客“首爾美食”上寫道:“在韓國獨自用餐會吸引進餐廳的其他人的目光。如果你一個人占一張桌子，吃所有的配菜和主菜，可能會被認為是不禮貌的。”

However, others say dining alone in Korea isn't nearly as uncomfortable as some would make it seem.

不過，也有人說，在韓國獨自用餐并不像有些人說的那么不舒服。

"Eating in Korea is hugely cultural, but it's becoming easier to find places to get food for one as more Western-style restaurants emerge," said Corey Wright, an American who teaches English in Korea.

在韓國教英語的美國人科里·賴特說，“在韓國，飲食文化非常豐富，但隨著越來越多的西餐廳出現(xiàn)，韓國人找地方吃飯變得越來越容易。”

She says takeout is also popular, and many restaurants offer traditional Korean foods like kimbap to go.

她說，外賣也很受歡迎，許多餐館都提供像韓式壽司這樣的傳統(tǒng)韓國食品。

"I'm used to the solo dining experience," Wright says. "Other teachers, especially those out of college, might experience more difficulty. One friend told me she equates kimbap with loneliness."

“我已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了獨自用餐的體驗，”賴特說，“其他的老師，尤其是那些大學(xué)畢業(yè)生，可能會遇到更多的困難。一位朋友告訴我，她把韓式壽司等同于孤獨。”

Is one really the loneliest number?

1真的是最孤獨的數(shù)字嗎?

What is it about eating alone in a restaurant that makes us feel so out of place?

為什么一個人在餐館吃飯會讓我們覺得很不自在?

"We're ingrained to believe that meals are communal activities," Lenzer writes. "We're so accustomed to constant distraction that the act of … sitting quietly in an intimate environment like a restaurant leaves us feeling exposed. With no one sitting across the table to keep us occupied, we wonder what those others sitting in the room make of our solitary status."

“我們根深蒂固地認為吃飯是一種公共活動，”倫策寫道。“我們已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了持續(xù)的分心，以至于在餐廳這樣的私密環(huán)境中安靜地坐著會讓我們感到暴露。沒有人坐在桌子對面讓我們忙個不停，我們想知道坐在房間里的其他人是怎么看待我們的孤獨狀態(tài)的。”

Taking this discomfort out of eating alone is the idea behind Eenmaal, a restaurant in Amsterdam that only has tables for one.

Eenmaal是阿姆斯特丹一家只有一人用餐的餐廳，它的理念就是將這種不適從獨自用餐中消除。

"Through Eenmaal I wanted to break the perception that eating out alone isn't very attractive," Marina Van Goor told The Guardian. "Solitary dining can actually be an inspiring experience."

瑪麗娜·凡·古爾在接受《衛(wèi)報》采訪時表示:“通過Eenmaal，我想打破那種認為獨自外出就餐沒什么吸引力的觀念。獨自用餐其實是一種鼓舞人心的體驗。”

Ichimen, a ramen house in Seoul, South Korea, offers private seats for diners and a service that allows them to order, eat and pay without ever seeing another person.

韓國首爾的一家拉面餐廳Ichimen為就餐者提供私人座位，并提供一項服務(wù)，讓他們可以在不看別人的情況下點菜、就餐和付款。

In Tokyo, the Moomin Cafe lets solo diners share a table with giant stuffed hippopotamus-like creatures inspired by Finnish picture books.

在東京，Moomin咖啡館讓獨自用餐的人與巨大的填充河馬類動物共享一張桌子，這些動物的靈感來自芬蘭的圖畫書。

Other inventions that take the shame out of solo dining are more technological in nature.

其他讓獨自用餐蒙羞的發(fā)明在本質(zhì)上更技術(shù)化。

Websites like EatWith.com have sprung up, acting as a meeting place for solo travelers looking for dinner company.

像EatWith.com這樣的網(wǎng)站如雨后春筍般出現(xiàn)，成為尋找晚餐公司的獨自旅行者的聚會場所。

In Korea, eating broadcasts — live streams of people eating and chatting — have become popular.

在韓國，吃飯直播——人們吃飯和聊天的直播——已經(jīng)變得流行起來。

Park Seo-Yeon, a 33-year-old woman who goes by the name of "The Diva" who you can see in the video above, makes more than $9,000 a month from simply allowing people to watch her eat.

樸世妍是一位33歲的女性，她的名字叫“Diva”，你可以在上面的視頻中看到，她每月從僅僅允許人們看她吃飯的情況下賺了9000多美元。

She thinks her broadcasts are popular because lonely people can virtually join her for a meal — and it helps that she has a healthy appetite.

她認為她的節(jié)目很受歡迎，因為孤獨的人實際上可以和她一起吃飯——這有助于她保持健康的食欲。