Dining out in our society has become so popular that it is now estimated that by the year 2005, two out of every three meals will be purchased and consumed outside of the home. Sociologists, always fascinated by data such as these, would have us believe this movement is a reflection of changing life-styles: with both men and women away from home for much of the day, people have less time to shop and prepare meals. This is nonsense, of course, for if it were true we could expect the busiest times for restaurants to be during the working week with the reverse trend at weekends. In reality, weekends and holidays are the busiest periods for most restaurants.

The fact is that people gain enormous pleasure from eating out. Dining out transforms the act of eating into a social event rich in character and fantasy. A meal taken in a fine restaurant is an escape from the mundane. Surrounded by a maitre d' hotel, waiters, a wine steward and the comfortable trappings of wealth, we are as rich as we want to be: fine taste, discrimination and savoir faire are all ours.

We also dine out because restaurants are places where we experience excitement, pleasure and a sense of personal well being. Depending on the decor, furnishings, lighting and tableware of the restaurant we select, we can evoke just the level of adventure that we want. Plush leather or tapestried chairs make real the suggestion of luxury and good taste. Brightly colored, hard plastic furniture gives us a sense of fun and a casual mood. Establishments that are dark and cozy encourage romance. Restaurants that recreate the atmosphere of bygone days or a fanciful era allow us to sample the best of days gone by. Ethnic restaurants serve up ambiance and food that allow us to take quick but inexpensive voyages around the world. Whether we dine in the restaurants of fine hotels or in eateries that specialize in Thai, Middle-Eastern, Indian, Italian or French cuisine, we are given a chance to broaden our knowledge at the same time that we are enjoying new or well-beloved dishes that please our palates.

Another reason we enjoy dining out is that it gives us the opportunity to overindulge without feeling too much guilt. Of course it is necessary to eat to maintain the body, but restaurant dining is not at all a matter of survival. A bisque of fresh fish, quail salad, thick steaks with Bearnaise sauce and a rasberry mousse with heaps of Chantilly cream have nothing whatever to do with human survival. Nor are bottles of fine wine, sparkling ice-cold Champagne, or a snifter of Armagnac or Cointreau related to the amount of vitamins or proteins our bodies need. Such delights are for pleasure and pleasure alone.

From the social point of view, restaurant dining involves a set of actions and rituals that induce conviviality, generosity, openness and a general air of comfortable sociality. To add to our pleasure, it also occasionally evokes those kinds of seriousness and gravity which elevate our sense of well-being. Imagine, for example, the solemn silence with which a table of friends greet the arrival of a dish in a restaurant. They might as well be in a museum, taking in a sight that takes the breath and puts them in awe.

Even more - the selection of a restaurant is a reflection of our capacity for discrimination, letting us take maximum pleasure from food while we indulge our interests in pleasure, fashion, status and entertainment. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, possibly the most charming of French gastronomes, summed it up nicely: "Animals eat. Men and women dine. And men and women of discrimination dine well."

© Daniel Rogov