What’s so wrong with eating alone?

April 27, 2012 | 27 notes

Earlier this week, CNN reported on a new social networking site called Invite for a Bite. The concept is to match women with platonic lunch or dinner partners so that we can avoid the shame and loneliness of eating alone. Except, some of us love eating alone. My preference is to bring along a book or an iPhone’s worth of Instapapered articles, but even when eavesdropping is the only entertainment on offer, I still consider eating alone to be one of life’s greatest pleasures (topped only by solitary cinema visits).

For an introvert like me, the site promotes the idea that hanging out with a random stranger (or several) is fun. It’s not that I’m against making friends, but compulsory small talk is torturous. And I’ve been cornered by enough strangers in cafes, shops and on public transport to get an idea of how the British public thinks.

Diane Shipley on eating alone: nuthin’ wrong with that! Is this something you enjoy?

• Tags:
• Eating
• Food
• Extroverts
• News
• Social media