›› I was blinded by the light just as I was digging into my bulgogi and kimchi. It wasn’t a Korean cuisine insight but just my guest immortalizing our plates with a flash of his cell phone camera. Once again it was clear that the “relationship status” of dining in the digital age is “complicated” … and may leave an aftertaste.
It’s no longer uncommon to see a table of four 30-somethings tweeting each other instead of talking while answering email, texting smiley faces, posting on Facebook, checking in with Foursquare and playing Words With Friends. Left to their own mobile devices, they may go through an entire meal without making eye contact with anything but food photos.
I love hardcore food porn as much as the next guy. Who doesn’t appreciate an extreme close-up of braised hazelnut gnocchi and Parmesan shavings draped with verdant broccoli rabe glistening under a butter veil?
I just think that it’s all gone too far and that technology is spoiling the experience.
However, I’m willing to concede that maybe this is a generational sea change to which Baby Boomers like me must adjust.
A recent mobile device etiquette survey by Intel found that more than 80 percent of us think phone and tablet manners have deteriorated significantly, even as 20 percent of U.S. adults (and fully 33 percent of teens) email, text or tweet while dining with other people.
To my fellow tech-loving foodies, I want to say that I understand, I really do. I’m one of the least credible advocates for cell phone dining discretion. I’ve fashioned a career out of food lust, publishing stories and provocative food photos in Colorado newspapers, magazines and websites. I confess that I’ve taken dining pix myself or asked others to take a shot and email me a jpeg.
With the social media revolution, now everybody wants to be a food writer and photographer.
I’m just not sure why.
I was an anonymous dining critic for nearly eight years. It was a cool job but there was a slight catch. Dining became work. Even as I ate a great meal, I was constantly analyzing the food, the wine, the ambience and the service. The meal and the company become secondary to chronicling the experience.
I wish digital addicts were a little more selfish. Then they would step away from their devices to savor the chef’s flavors that they paid so many hard-earned dollars to experience.
Restaurant folks have told me they also have mixed feelings about cell phone use. Tweets, Yelp posts and Facebook food photos are free advertising, as long as they’re positive. Owners say there’s only a problem when food porn shooters use flashes and cause a scene, or if diners talk loudly on their cells and intrude on other guests’ meals.
Frankly, it’s hard for restaurateurs to make the case for digital etiquette when they offer their customers a free wi-fi connection.
Personally, I think it’s also a business opportunity for some forward-thinking restaurateur. I’d pay extra to eat in a cell-free bistro with comfortable chairs and a lower noise level. I’d appreciate no interruptions during the sacred pasta course. (OK, now I definitely sound like a cranky elder.)
As the digital age has taken hold, food establishments have started to impose some order. First there were the “No cell phones at the counter” signs. Now, in an effort to thwart the food porn paparazzi, Eva Restaurant in Los Angeles has offered diners a 5 percent discount if they left their iPhones and iPads at the front desk. There is a also a new game called “phone stack.” Each person at the table puts his or her cell or device face down. The first person who can’t stand it and grabs their device has to pay for everyone else’s meal.
I’m hoping simple adult etiquette in the dining environment will prevail.
Common courtesy tells you that phones and devices should never be placed on the table unless you’re playing “phone stack.”
You should never answer or make calls during a meal. It’s telling your guests they are unimportant. If it’s an emergency or kid-related problem, take the call in the lobby or outside.
I’d make some exceptions to the mobile device ban when you’re dining alone or part of a working lunch.
If you simply MUST photograph your amuse bouche, please follow some polite directives for the digital age.
First, never, EVER use a flash. It’s just plain rude.
Second, do it quickly and don’t make your photo-taking the center of attention. That includes standing on a chair to get one of those neat overhead shots.
Finally, NEVER tell me I can’t bite into my hot-from-the-kitchen fried chicken so that you can capture an image.
My response is unlikely to be polite or tasteful.