Does it bother you to dine alone?

• Table For One
• Does this terrify you?

The nature of food blogging means that I’m eating by myself as often as with someone else. Although I’m never truly alone because I feel like you, dear reader, are eating there with me.

I’m kidding. Of course, I’m alone. But I’m also taking notes, casually ferreting information out of the staff and following the meals of diners at other tables to get a sense of what people think of a new place. As a result, I’m fairly content to have a plate of noodles as my only dining companion. So when a friend suggested that he will never eat out by himself because it’s mortifying – as if he were carrying a sign that says, “I couldn’t find someone to eat with me,” I was surprised. I didn’t realize that in an era where we can bury ourselves in a phone or paper/electronic media, that eating by oneself still had some stigma.

Does it bother you to dine alone?