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| Enjoying (unhealthy) food at a rock festival while getting in contact with others |
Since eating out became more popular in the 20th century the number of places where to get food grew more diverse. After the hot dog and ice cream seller kiosks at train stations popped up. Also snack bars with typical Dutch snacks started to be established in cities and rural villages. Although they attract a wide range of people, the atmosphere of the interior does not invite the client to stay longer than necessary. It’s mostly youngsters which meet here. Others just order and pay and leave as soon as their order is ready. Food will be eaten on the way or at home.
Big offices, hospitals and schools often also have their own restaurant or canteen. Mostly a caterer is responsible for this. Since contracts are usually for longer periods* it is not easy to change their behavior or have any influence on the products on offer. These restaurants usually only process the food to make it ready to eat; baking the prepared bread, fry or cook eggs and heat the soup. The opportunity here is that all the users of a building come here to have a snack, lunch or dinner, from cleaning lady to office manager.
A restaurant traditionally is the most luxurious place to go out for dinner (maybe except from having your own cook at home..…). Guests are served by a waiter and a lot attention is paid to the atmosphere replacing one’s own dining room. People really come here to talk to their partners, friends or family and enjoy the food and drinks they have ordered. By paying the bill you pay for quality time with the ones on your table. Compared to the above discussed locations the guest spent quiet some time them which makes a restaurant a good place to get in contact with others. In fact people will mainly talk to the people they join a table with.
One can see that each location (kiosk, canteen or restaurant) has its own opportunities and constraints to create public domain. When buying food in a kiosk one usually is in a hurry and combines eating with another activity like travelling. Most people buying here are individuals not open to get in contact with other people. Canteens and restaurants offer better opportunities for people to get in contact with each other since guests spent more time in here. Especially canteens attract a diversity of people from different backgrounds, with different interests, ideals, etc. Unfortunately this possibility is not exploited a lot.
To make food a guiding principle of the public domain (food causes the realization of a public domain) it needs to get a more active role on a specific location. There needs to be an activity which attracts people and which could also hold them for a longer period we are now used to. Food should be used as a mean to bind people from different groups and thus get them in contact with each other.
Joan Almekinders and Maurice Nio offer ten suggestions ‘to create central food spots which attract an interesting melting pot of city life’ in their book Eat this**. All places should be accessible to everyone; the rich and the poor, Dutch or immigrant from far away or close by. I will discuss the most interesting of these food spots next week in the final part of the essay ‘Food as energizer for the public domain’.
Click here to part IV - Food market(ing)
*European governments which launch a commission have to make a call for tenders if a certain amount of money is concerned with this commission
** Almekinders, J., Nio, M., Eat this, p.61, Duizend en Een publishers Amsterdam, 2006
