EAT MY GLOBE

THE MENU: THE HISTORY OF THE RESTAURANT & EATING OUT

Simon Majumdar (“SM”)

Hey, April.

April Simpson (“AS”):

Yeah, Simon.

SM:

Why did the duck refuse to go to a restaurant?

AS:

I don’t know, Simon. Why did the duck refuse to go to a restaurant?

SM:

Because it refused to see a bill.

[Laughter]

AS:

[Laughter]

Oh.

SM:

Tee and indeed hee.

[Laughter]

AS:

Oh.

SM:

Oh dear, I do love those things. Okay.

INTRO MUSIC

SM:

Hi everybody and welcome to a brand-new episode of Eat My Globe, a podcast about things you didn't know you didn't know about food.

Well, today, as you could probably tell, we're going to be looking at the restaurant and all the types of eating establishment that people have visited over time. We will be looking at the ancient world such as ancient Greece and Rome; at the period of the Middle Ages; at the French, who created the word, “restaurant,” in the 1700s and 1800s; at China; and then the hustle and bustle of the United States of America, which introduced things such as, the fast food, the cafeteria, diners, drive-ins and automats, and others along the way. All of which helped workers get back to their jobs more quickly.

Alongside that, we'll take a look at the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and how that changed restaurant eating habits and the business of actually starting a restaurant.

So, if you've ever had reservations about this food history podcast before, don't fret because our delivery – ugh – is on time.

Oh dear, this is my wife trying to... Ugh. Anyway.

So, why don't you come in from the cold, let me take your coat and show you to a table for the history of the restaurant.

Whereas we normally begin with where the name of our subject of our episode comes from, today, we're going to head back a bit and start with the ancient times of Greece and Rome. In ancient Greece, there were societies and resting places called “lesche,” The dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities defines lesche as conversations, so it was a place where people would get together and share conversations and political discussions. Google translates the Greek word for lesche as a club. One ancient person described it as,

Quote

“where the idle resorted for conversation, the poor to find warmth and shelter; at Athens it is said that there were several.”

End quote.

Sparta also had them. As Plutarch put it, the lesche was

Quote

“for business also, but especially for the relaxation of the citizens. . ., in contrast to their severe bodily exercises. . . .” 

End quote.

Every tribe would have one of these lesches. And, unsurprisingly, these lesches serve food to people.

In addition to the lesches, ancient Greeks would also go to a “Kapeleia,” which were bars that obviously served booze, but they also served food to regular folks who could pay.

By the 5th century BCE, the ancient Greeks could also frequent places known as “phatnai.” These were, as Encyclopedia Britannica describes them as,

Quote

“sumptuous Greek establishments . . . that served a local and transient clientele of traders, envoys, and government officials.”

End quote.

In ancient Rome, the regular folks tended to eat out more regularly. Because they had to if they were from the lower strata of society and did not have time to cook or even have access to full kitchens.

In Pompeii, a recently discovered “Thermopolium,” or quote, “hot drinks counter,” end quote, has revealed how ancient Romans would stop outside to have a drink and eat some food. According to NPR, the food on offer at these thermopolia – the plural version of thermopolium – would have included,

Quote

“duck, goat, pig, fish and snails in earthen pots, sometimes combined in the same dish.”

End quote.

According to Business Insider, other dishes served at a typical thermopolia would have included,

Quote

“Lentils, meat, cheese and a type of warmed spice wine called calida. . . . Fish sauce – known as garum – and nuts also may have been handy snacks to eat on the go.”

End quote.

The area is not unlike a “fast food” counter we might expect today. The counter where people would eat would have bright illustrations of the food and drink on offer – like a menu board, I would imagine. The counter would also have a large space with round holes where “Dolia” or large pots would be placed. The food inside the dolia would be served to the willing buyers. 

And like modern-day fast-food restaurants, some of these thermopolia would also have an area for their customers to dine in.

The most recently excavated thermopolia in Pompeii was situated by a busy square, where, I imagine people, would stop to buy a meal or a snack. A bit like they would today.

By the way, I did an episode on Dining in Ancient Rome in season 5 so if you missed that episode or would like to know more about what they wanted to eat, do check it out. 

In some parts of ancient Rome, these thermopolia may have also been known as “cauponae,” “tabernae,” or “popinae,” where the cauponae was like an inn that served food, the tabernae was like a tavern that also served food, and the popinae was more like a “greasy spoon,” which we call it in England. Apparently, these types of dining establishments were frequented by some unsavory characters. The Roman poet, Juvenal, referred to these establishments as a cookshop,

Quote

“Send your Legate to Ostia O Caesar, but search for him in some big cookshop! There you will find him, lying cheek-by-jowl beside a cut-throat, in the company of bargees, thieves, and runaway slaves, beside hangmen and coffin-makers, or of some eunuch priest lying drunk with idle timbrels. Here is Liberty Hall! Once cup serves for everybody; no one has a bed to himself, nor a table apart from the rest.”

End quote.

Juevenal further describes these types of places as having,

Quote

“the savour of tripe in the reeking cookshop.”

End quote.

Oh.

And Quintus Horatius Flaccus or Horace, as he is known to us today, simply described them as

Quote

“ill-kept and greasy.”

End quote.

Which reminds me of the “greasy spoon cafés,” a term even now used in England about a working man’s café. You know the type that serves the most fantastic English breakfast. I used to go to one as a student in the start of the 1980s that served breakfast that was cheaper than my college. The owner had teaspoons that were chained to the wall in case of stealing. Absolutely he did. And would come along and give you your breakfast and then give the spoons at each table a once over with a damp cloth. Oh, every now and again. Happy times. Oh, I love that.

[Laughter]

Anyway, back to taverns, which is a term, according to Merriam-Webster, that comes from the Latin, “taberna,” which I'm told meant, hut or shop, and was first used in the 14th century.

These were properly more drinking establishments that serve food rather than food places that serve drink. But food was served. Some of these included places such as Ireland’s Sean’s Bar, which is the oldest bar in Europe and has been around since 900 CE, and The Bingley Arms in Leeds, England, which has been around since 953 or maybe 905 CE – both of which are establishments that I have visited on a couple of occasions.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, these ancient “Taverns” were known as a place for thieves, cutthroats, and undesirables. But they provided a meal at a fixed time of day. By the 16th century, meals were delivered to people of all classes for a shilling or show per meal,

Quote

“with wines and ales as extras.”

End quote.

These “Cauponae” and “Tabernae” became “Alehouses,” which according to Encyclopedia Britannica were managed by women who were known as “Alewives.” People would know if a building was an alehouse if they saw a broom that was stuck out above the door. 

On to China to check out where the modern-day restaurant likely started.

According to Katie Rawson and Elliot Shore, authors of “Dining Out: A Global History of Restaurants,” the very first style of restaurants that we might know today was in the 12th century CE in the Chinese cities of Kaifeng and Hangzhou, which were the southern and northern capitals of the Song Dynasty. 

Rawson and Shore go on to say that the restaurants started in those areas due to one, their size – each city had about a million people; two, the currency allowed for smaller denominations; three, the government was becoming made up of bureaucrats as opposed to aristocrats; and four, trade was abundant, which meant outsiders visited their city. They also say that,

Quote

“The notion that foods from other places would be made available to travellers and to people from those regions who made the city their home became another impetus: the regional cuisine that characterizes the restaurant culture in the twenty-first century – ‘authentic’ foods from various parts of the world – was a fully formed part of these metropolises of Kaifeng and Hangzhou.”

End quote.

As Meng Yunglao described a restaurant in 1147 as follows:

Quote

“Generally, the largest restaurants were called ‘partial-tea food.’ They served such things as head stew, stalactite stew, pressed meat, baked sesame buns, lamb kid, large and small bones, kidneys in reduced sauce, brass-skin noodles, broad-cut noodles with ginger, twice-cooked noodles, cold noodles, chess piece pasta, and baked flour products. If one were to make it a ‘full-tea’ meal, then one added a head strew of pickled vegetables. . . .  Each of these restaurants had a courtyard with eastern and western corridors, which were designated as seating compartments. When the guests sat down, a single person holding chopsticks and paper (zhuzhi) then asked all of the seated guests [for their order].”

End quote.

Wow! That sounds like a really great meal in a modern-day restaurant. I definitely want to try all the noodles on offer.

Before the term restaurant became the norm for what we call places where people go out to eat, Merriam Webster says that as dining out began to develop, people called these places some pretty basic but descriptive names such as,

Quote

“eating house, victualling-house, cook's shop, treating-house, suttling-house (which was especially for soldiers), and chop shop.”

End quote.

It was to France, however, where we have to look at where the actual name of “restaurant” became the name we now know today. 

What may come as a surprise to many people is that the term “restaurant” does not come from a place but from a foodstuff – soup, to be exact.

The legend starts with a story which was initially published in 1853. The story goes that in 1765, a soup maker called Boulanger - also known as “Champ d’Oiseaux” or “Chantoiseau” – opened a shop in Paris near the Louvre museum that became known for his meat-based soups called “bouillons restaurants” or in French, “restorative broths” in English. See, the restaurant in Boulanger's “bouillons restaurants” is taken from the Latin term “restaurare,” which is defined as “to restore” or “to renew.”

As Jean-Robert Pitte writes in “The Rise of the Restaurant,” a section in the book entitled, “Food: A Culinary History From Antiquity to the Present,”

Quote

“Ever since the late Middle Ages the word restaurant had been used to describe any of a variety of rich bouillons made with chicken, beef, roots of one sort or another, onions, herbs, and, according to some recipes, spices, crystalized sugar, toasted bread, barley, butter, and even exotic ingredients such as dried rose petals, Damascus grapes, and amber.”

End quote.

They all sound delicious to me.

As an aside, being a theologian from my student days, I also liked that Boulanger's shop had a welcoming sign that read,

Quote

“Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis et ego vos restaurabo.”

End quote.

Which as Merriam Webster puts it means,

Quote

“‘Come to me all who suffer from pain of the stomach and I will restore you’—a punning allusion to both the restorative quality of his broths and Jesus's invitation  found in Matthew 11:28 ‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’”

End quote.                                       

And according to Jean Robert Pitte and the National Geographic, everything was fine in Boulanger's shop selling world until Boulanger started to serve other dishes in addition to his healthy soups. He served a dish that involved a leg of lamb in a white sauce – or “pieds de mouton à la sauce poulette” – that his competitors considered a “stew.” This lamb dish saw him being sued in court by the “Traiteurs” – or the guild of Caterers who cooked food for people without a kitchen. Fortunately, for Boulanger, he won the case by claiming that he separately prepared the sauce and then added it to the cooked lamb leg, which is apparently different to how the caterers prepared a dish.

The caterers lost and Boulanger won.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The word restaurant began to be used in France and other parts of Europe. And, we can still see the term, “traiteur,” being used in Italy in establishments such as those called “Trattoria.” 

Now, we don't know if this is just one of those culinary tales that people share because they are just good stories. And, in fact, Rebecca Spang, author of “The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture,” puts the creation of the restaurants with a man named Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau. And I don't know whether Rebecca Spang’s Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau is the same as Jean-Robert Pitte’s Boulanger, who he says is also known as “Champ d’Oiseaux” or “Chantoiseau.” 

To be honest, we probably won't know the truth for this, but it's still a great story.

In 1782 or 1789 according to other sources, the first luxury restaurant began to serve meals in Paris, on rue de Richelieu. Antoine Beauvilliers owned the restaurant he called, “La Grande Taverne de Londres.” As a well-known expert on epicurean matters, he also “L’Art de Cuisiner,” which he published in 1814.

Author and gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin says in his book, “Physiologie du Goût” or “A Handbook of Gastronomy,” that Beauvilliers’ restaurant was

Quote

“elegant and his waiters are well-dressed; he has a good cellar and a first-rate cuisine. . . . carriages of all kinds and of every nation were constantly to be seen before his establishment. . . .”

End quote.

I wish I was one of those as well.

Brillat-Savarin also describes Beauvilliers as a fantastic host. Apparently, Beauvilliers would often,

Quote

“pointed out a dish which might be passed over, another that should be taken without delay, ordered a third of which no one had thought, send for wine from a cellar of which he alone kept the key, and all this in so pleasant and courteous a manner, that such orders seemed so many personal favours on his part.”

End quote.

By 1789, restaurants in Paris started serving meals from à la carte menus. Some of these menus could include, for example,

Quote

“12 soups.

24 side dishes.

15 to 20 entries of beef.

20 entries of mutton.

30 entries of poultry and game.

15 or 20 of veal.

12 of pastry.

24 of fish.

15 roasts.

50 entremets.

50 desserts.”

End quote.

Now that's a huge menu.

Interestingly though, according to Brillat-Savarin, the ingredients may have primarily come from France, but they could also have come from Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, and as far as Asia with rice, sago, curry, soy, and the Americas with chocolate, vanilla, sugar, sweet potatoes and more. 

There were dining places in France and England that did provide communal meals. Around the 15th century in France, these were known as table d’hote, and in 18th century England, these were known as “ordinaires.” These were not really the same restaurants as we would know them today because the meal was served at a certain time only and the diners did not get to choose what to eat. I don't know if I would have liked that.

At the beginning of the 19th century, there were around 500 restaurants in Paris alone. But soon thereafter, the restaurants began to spread to the rest of Europe. 

In London, the oldest continuing operating “restaurant” that still exists today is “Rules,” which started as a purveyor of oysters. It opened in 1798. I have been there many, many times, and dining there reeks of history where the likes of Charles Dickens have eaten there. It is now known for serving fantastic game. For those who have watched Downton Abbey, which is a period piece set in the early 1900s, Rules restaurant has made a few appearances on the show particularly when the aristocratic Crawleys were in town. Mmm.

Around 1851, an American visitor to London made the following restaurant recommendations.

Quote

“In London, how and where to dine must, in a great measure, depend on the day’s and evening’s amusement. If business require attendance in the city, or pleasure to the opera or theatre, a spot suitable to the neighbourhood should be selected. If the digestive organs are somewhat impaired, a light French dinner is preferable to a substantial English one; if, on the contrary, a man has been taking strong exercise all day, and has the appetite of a Saxon, our indigenous dishes of beef-steaks and mutton chops will be duly appreciated, and can be obtained at any of the numerous restaurants and chop-houses which now abound.”

End quote.

Oh.

The author goes on to note that it was unusual for women to be allowed to dine on their own or even with their husbands. 

Quote

“A want of long standing still exists in London – and that is, the difficulty of finding Restaurants where strangers of the gentler sex may be taken to dine. It is true that some have been opened where gentlemen may take their wives and daughters, but it has not yet become a recognised custom, although at Blackwall, Greenwich, Hampton Court, Windsor, Slough, Richmond, ladies are to be found as in the Parisan Cafes, and in London at ‘Verey’s,’ in Pall Mall and Regent Street; but to give a private dinner with ladies, it is necessary to go to the ‘Albion’ or ‘London Tavern,’  where nothing can exceed the magnificence of the rooms.’”

End quote.

Around the early to mid-1870s, a Frenchman named Hippolite-Adolphe Taine noted in his “Notes on England,” that the British food was not good.

Quote

“on trying their cookery, which, excepting that of their very fine clubs, and of the ‘Continental’ English, who keep a French or Italian cook, [the cooking] has no savour. I have purposely dined in twenty taverns, from the lowest to the highest, in London and elsewhere. I got large positions of fat meat and vegetables, without sauce; one is amply and wholesomely fed, but one has no pleasure in eating.”

End quote.

Ouch.

In 1830, the first fine dining restaurant in the United States opened. It was in New York City and was operated by the Del-Monico family. The Del-Monico family created their own farm in Brooklyn, so they get what they needed, including, according to “Dining: A Global History”

Quote

“Belgian endive, aubergine and artichokes.”

End quote.

And the cellar had nearly 16,000 bottles of wine. 

We chatted about Delmonico’s and other Restaurants that Changed America with our friend and Yale professor, Paul Freedman, back in season 1, so make sure you check that out. And according to him, Delmonico’s was

Quote

“the first restaurant to offer a high level of service and a very large menu. . . . baked Alaska was invented there. . . . So Delmonico’s was for 75 years or so, the most noticed restaurant. And so, the dishes that it invented spread out beyond just the restaurant to become recognized specialties of many restaurants across the country.”

End quote.

I have dined at Delmonico's back in the day. I remember enjoying the steaks there and another dish invented by Delmonico chefs – the Lobster Newberg, a very rich dish made with lobster, cream, butter, Madeira, and eggs. Very, very delicious. Oh. Now, I also discussed the origins of this dish on the Eat My Globe episode on the History of the Lobster. So do check that out too.

Back to restaurants. Often, when I am thinking about American dining, I think of some of the innovations that my new home has come up with over the years. Things like “cafeterias” or “diners,” or “fast food,” “drive in’s or drive throughs” and “automats.”

So, let's have a look at those.

Cafeterias are restaurants where basically people serve themselves from a counter where different dishes are laid out. The first self-service restaurant is believed to have started in Kansas City, Missouri in 1891 at the Young Women’s Christian Association. Although, the Hartford Courant says this style of dining establishment may have originated in 1885 in New York. Moreover, according to the LA Times, the term, “cafeteria,” was first used in 1893 by a man called John Kruger when he opened his restaurant in Chicago. Whenever or wherever this type of restaurant originated, cafeterias soon became popular by the 1900s. 

Apparently, its popularity started in 1905, when a woman called Helen Mosher, opened a cafeteria in Los Angeles and advertised that she served quote, “food that can be seen,” end quote, and that it required quote, “no tips,” end quote. Apparently this style of restaurant was appealing because soon, more cafeterias opened up. 

Let's move on to diners, which the BBC calls

Quote

“a quintessential American experience.”

End quote.

It is believed that diners originated in Providence, Rhode Island in 1872. An entrepreneur called Walter Scott used a lunch wagon drawn by a horse to serve food at night. By 1887, the wagons became “rolling restaurants” and were called “lunch cars,” after a gentleman called Samuel Jones added chairs. According to Sarah Saffian at Smithsonian Magazine, they later became called “dining cars,” and finally abbreviated to “diner.” So, there you go.

Moving on to fast food, Encyclopedia Britannica defines it as

Quote

“mass-produced food product designed for quick and efficient preparation and distribution that is sold by certain restaurants, concession stands, and convenience stores. Fast food is perhaps most associated with chain restaurants.”

End quote.

The first fast food chain started in Wichita, Kansas in 1921, and they called it “White Castle.” You've probably heard of it. It served burgers at the price of five cents. The popularity of the fast food restaurant did not explode, however, until after the end of World War II, which was then when suburban living, freeways and cars became more prevalent.

While the first fast food chain may have started in Kansas, the Californian tourism Board at Visit California has proclaimed that California is, quote, “The Birthplace of Fast Food,” end quote. That’s because so many of the fast food chains we still know today originated in California – so, places such as McDonald’s, which started in 1940; In-N-Out, which started in 1948; Jack in the Box, which started in 1951; Carl’s Jr., which started in 1956; Wienerschnitzel, which started in 1961; Taco Bell, which started in 1962; Del Taco, which started in 1964; Panda Express, which started in 1973; and many others. According to IBIS World, today, there are more than 536,825 fast food restaurants in the world. 

So, now let's talk about “Drive-In” restaurants. These are a particularly American form of restaurant. Food & Wine describes this type of restaurant as

Quote

“A drive-in is essentially the lazy person’s dining-in. It is going out but on your terms. You pull onto the lot, you flash your lights, a carhop comes running and takes your order, and you kick back and relax, letting it all come to you on a tray that can be fixed, rather cleverly, right to the windowsill. Voilà – fine dining, mid-century American style.”

End quote.

According to history dot com, the first known “Drive In” was the “Pig Stand,” which sold BBQ and which first opened in 1921 between Dallas and Fort Worth. 

But soon, “Drive-Thru” restaurants became more popular with business owners and customers. Business owners liked Drive-Thrus because they were more profitable – they did not need to hire as many employees like carhops, and they could sell food to more people. Similarly, customers liked them because they could get their food more quickly. Drive-Thrus not only changed the accessibility of fast food but it also changed car design. Car makers took note of the popularity of the Drive-Thru and, by the 1980s, many cars added cup holders as a feature. Hmm.

In N Out, which again, started in 1948 in Southern California, is believed to be the pioneer of the Drive-Thru restaurant. I must say, that I do enjoy their double double cheeseburger with grilled onions, animal style, every so often. To translate, that involves two beef patties with mustard, grilled onions and their... special sauce.

And finally, let's talk about automats, which the New York Times once described as

Quote

“the waiter-less cafeterias.”

End quote.

Automats are restaurants in the sense that one could buy food, but are more like vending machines in the sense that one chooses food displayed behind a glass covered window, then buys the food by putting one's money in an enclosed kiosk which then releases the pre-prepared food that one takes to a table. Automats may at first seem like an American invention but they are not. The first Automat, called Quisisana, opened in Berlin in 1895. Apparently it served sandwiches, wines and coffee. But, in 1902, Joseph Horn and Frank Hadart opened one in Philadelphia. It soon became very popular once they opened a branch in New York City's Times Square in 1912.

At its peak, Horn and Hadart had 70 locations, making it the biggest restaurant chain in the world at the time. Despite the absence of waiters, automats actually employed many cooks, dishwashers and the people who stocked and restocked dishes in the glass covered windows. Freshly prepared dishes on offer included mac and cheese, chicken pot pie and baked beans. 

It is interesting to note, during the COVID-19 pandemic, “Automats” started to come back. For example, a restaurant in Jersey City allowed customers to order food and once ready, the customer could pick it up from a designated delivery box. This updated Automat, however, did not offer pre-made food and instead all foods were freshly made after a customer placed their order.

Which brings us to today's world. As we are heading out of that recent pandemic, we need to say how restaurants and takeouts will begin to deal with the chaos that brought to everything, including restaurants.

Let's start with takeout. This history dates back at least to the thermopolia of ancient Rome.  There, as we discussed, ancient Romans would have easily been able to buy food to go. 

A fun story about “take out” happened in 1889 in Italy. The story goes that King Umberto I of Italy and his wife Queen Margherita apparently became tired of fine dining, so they summoned pizzas from Pizzeria Brandi. Now, legend goes that the Queen really liked the pizza she ordered – made with white mozzarella, red tomatoes, and green basil, which, coincidentally, or not, had all the colors of the Italian flag – that that pizza became named after her as the Margherita pizza. So, that’s the story of the royal take out.

In the United States, according to food historian Emelyn Rude, food delivery started happening in the 1700s when hotels in the colonies offered a service where

Quote

“families may every day be provided with plates of any dish, that may happen to be cooked that day, by sending their servants for the same.”

End quote.

As for modern day take out we are familiar with today, in the US, that happened in 1922 when a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles called, Kin-Chu, started offering a delivery service. Kin-Chu started with an advertisement campaign saying,

Quote

“The only place on the West Coast making and delivering real Chinese Dishes.”

End quote.

And, here’s a fun fact you can use to bore people with at dinner parties. In the east coast during the early 1900s, many restaurants in places like New York City sold oysters, scallops and other seafood to go. They were then packaged in oyster pails, which were white folded cardboard containers manufactured by a company called Bloomer Brothers. That company became the Riegel Paper Company in the 1960s, and then became Fold-Pak in the 1970s. Today, Fold-Pak still makes those same white folded cardboard containers that were once used as oyster pails but are now used as Chinese to go containers. So, there you go. Your typical Chinese take out box started its life as an oyster pail.

According to DoorDash, the food delivery service in 2023, the most popular food ordered for delivery in the US were

Quote

“1. Fries

2. Chicken Quesadilla

3. Mozzarella Sticks

4. Garlic Naan

5. Spicy Chicken Sandwich

6. Pepperoni Pizza

7. Chips & Queso

8. Traditional Wings

9. Cobb Salad 

10. Fried Rice”

End quote.

Which shows us the wide variety of foods from around the world now available at various restaurants in the US. In the DoorDash list alone, the variety of dishes ordered tells us that Americans love ordering Mexican food, Chinese food, Indian food, Italian food and more from restaurants.

This is unsurprising. In fact, if I leave my house now in LA, I am within walking distance of, to name a few, a Chinese restaurant, an Indian restaurant, a Thai restaurant, a Cuban restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, an Indonesian restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, a Nepalese restaurant, a Burmese restaurant, an Italian restaurant, an El Salvadoran restaurant, a Jamaican restaurant, a French restaurant, a Brazilian restaurant, a Greek restaurant, and more. That does not count the fact that we're also very close to many hamburger restaurants and pizza restaurants as well as fine dining ones too.

Which finally brings us to the restaurants that have joined the delivery model because of the recent pandemic. I have noticed that many restaurants that previously did not offer delivery have begun to look at this model to keep their restaurants afloat. But now I know many people in the restaurant business that want to keep this as an extra supply of income for people who want fine dining but want to do it in the warmth of their own home.

It would seem that those who run restaurants are now as resourceful as they ever used to be. So, when we think of restaurants now, let us also think of the Kapeleion of Greece, The Thermopolium of Rome, dining out in China during the Song Dynasty, the Taverns of Britain, the original “Restaurants” of Paris, the fast food, diners and automats of the United States, and all the restaurants from around the world that I can walk to now whenever I leave my house.

And, of course never let us forget the people who run them and the people who work in them.

People without whom I would never have a job.

See you next week folks.

OUTRO MUSIC

SM:

Make sure to check out the website associated with this podcast at www.EatMyGlobe.com where we will be posting the transcripts from each episode, along with all the references and resources we used putting the episodes together, in case you want to delve deeper into each subject. There is also a contact button, so please do let us know if there are any subjects that you would like us to cover.

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Thank you and goodbye from me, Simon Majumdar, we’ll speak to you soon on the next episode of EAT MY GLOBE: Things You Didn’t Know You Didn’t Know About Food.

CREDITS

The EAT MY GLOBE Podcast is a production of “It’s Not Much But It’s Ours” and “Producer Girl Productions.”

[Ring sound]

We would also like to thank Sybil Villanueva for all of her help both with the editing of the transcripts and her essential help with the research.