While grateful for food deliveries that are keeping us fed and distracted during lockdown, the restaurant dining experience simply cannot be replicated
There was a time when this was the dream—to be able to order from any restaurant within a reasonable distance and have their food delivered to your home. Who would have thought that what was once a thrilling fantasy would eventually become the norm? That what we imagined would be the ultimate indulgence— that of enjoying a restaurant meal in the comforts of our personal space— is probably the only thing at the moment that is connecting us to the life we used to know.
Really, though— is it the same? After you have gone through your list of friends who own restaurants and ordered their food to be sent as ayuda to family that you miss; or perhaps that DIY kit from an establishment who swore to never offer takeout but was really left with no choice but to find a way to get their food out to their customers. Once we have outgrown the newness of it all—do we really want to keep eating out of aluminium trays or biodegradable cassava boxes?
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I realised recently that I have become so used to dried out, reheated food that I started to believe it was an acceptable meal. I am not even talking about food usually meant to be enjoyed a la minute, like a bowl of pasta. Even just your typical delivery food like burgers and pizza that are made to pass through the microwave or oven before consumption, a new practice that has become routine during the pandemic as a safety precaution in many households. It can be seen as a necessary step that makes us feel safer despite the fact that this leaves the cheeseburger or the already dehydrated-from-travel pizza even more dried up. Food becomes a mere shell of its former self, yet I still eat it and convince myself that it is better than not having it at all.
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