meet me at babe's

one would think that in america, where we love our portion sizes enormous, family style eating would be popular. sharing meals with one another in larger groups over hours of raucous story-telling and spirits should be something that we enjoy.

but the very things that make up the idea of enjoying family style eating are what diminish its attractiveness to americans in my opinion. for example:

1. we like large portions. but we don't like to share those portions. i order my food at a restaurant because it is what i want, not what we might enjoy sharing. it is downright un-american, indeed, to share all the parts of our meal together. we might just lose a little piece of that enduring, rugged individualism that has made us what we are today as a country. or we might just lose a few pounds on the waistline. either way, i know we shrink back at the idea that we might have to compromise over things.

2. i think we see eating as utilitarian. i, too often, fall into this category. it is something that we have to do to maintain life and "health" statuses (but let's not get too carried away on the whole healthy thing, after all this is america). i eat with speed you have not seen and as though my food is going to disappear all too quickly if it isn't cleared off my plate. the idea that we might sit around sharing food and drink for hours at a time, seems counter-productive to our culture that demands productive progress, not exploratory and educational conversation.

3. eating family style means we share a closeness or level of comfort with acceptance of everyone at the table. to pass a plate or bottle around is a tacit way of offering yourself to another person. without saying the words and by participating in family style eating we exhibit the idea that what i have is for us, and not me alone. this is a corollary of #1. and yet, we do a great deal in our culture to wall ourselves off from others in our homes, with our fences, in our cars, and individualized, compartmentalized, and specialized lives. we are good at this. and we are inversely bad at sharing ourselves.

there are several places that i can enjoy family style eating where all bets are off. my favorite is something that i can't get in austin where i live: Babe's Chicken Dinner House. oh the gloriousness!

what would you add to the list?