Table sharing
| Table sharing | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 搭枱 | ||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||
| Kanji | 相席 | ||||||||
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Table sharing refers to the seating at a single table of multiple separate parties—individual customers or groups of customers who may not know each other.
Overview
By practicing table sharing, two (or more) groups of customers who may not know each other sit together around a table in the restaurant, and are able to get a table faster than waiting for the first group to finish.[citation needed] However, in many cultures, the act of sharing food with another person is a highly emotionally-charged act; even in cultures which take a more casual attitude towards it, sharing a table with strangers in a restaurant can create some awkwardness.[1]
Table sharing is a common practise in busy restaurants in Japan, with the consent of the diners in question.[2] In Japanese culture, being invited to a person's home to share a meal is rather uncommon and indicates an extremely close relationship.[1] However, sharing a table in public with strangers is just a routine occurrence with no special meaning.[2] Japanese etiquette does not even require that one converse with the unknown party with whom one is seated.[3] It is said to be an example of how Japanese concepts of personal space are adapted to crowded urban living conditions.[2]
The custom of table sharing is also widespread in old-style yum cha Chinese restaurants, dai pai dongs and cha chaan tengs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and parts of China. The Chinese restaurant process, referring to certain random processes in probability theory, is a mathematical allusion to this custom.[citation needed]
Harry G. Shaffer reported in the 1960s that it was a common practise in Soviet restaurants; he used the opportunity of being seated with strangers to strike up conversations with his fellow diners.[4] Table sharing is also practiced in Germany.[citation needed]
References
- ^ a b Tiger, Lionel (1987), The manufacture of evil: ethics, evolution, and the industrial system, Harper & Row, p. 61, ISBN 9780060390709
- ^ a b c Nishiyama, Kazuo (2000), Doing business with Japan: successful strategies for intercultural communication, University of Hawaii Press, p. 25, ISBN 9780824821272
- ^ Takada, Noriko; Lampkin, Rita L. (1996), The Japanese way: aspects of behavior, attitudes, and customs of the Japanese, McGraw-Hill, p. 20, ISBN 9780844283777
- ^ Shaffer, Harry G. (1965), The Soviet system in theory and practice: selected Western and Soviet views, Appleton-Century-Crofts, p. 121, OCLC 405914
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