Eating alone, or commensality redefined? Solo dining and the aestheticization of eating (out)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12698372 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sami Koponen (0000-0003-3428-0875, University of Helsinki, corresponding author), Pekka Mustonen (0000-0002-5077-7788, City of Helsinki, City Executive Office, Finland) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 359-377 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Consumer Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1469-5405 • E-ISSN: 1741-2900 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1469540520955219 |
| OpenAlex | W3081687586 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 47 |
Consumers’ increasing fascination with recreational eating out has contributed to numerous transformations in the upmarket restaurant practice. This paper explores such changes in regard to the “social” aspects of eating out, focusing particularly on the “cultural phenomenon” and practice of eating publicly alone (solo dining). Specifically, the paper extends previous portrayals of solo dining as a bundle of aloneness and togetherness by exploring such interplay in the context of the aestheticization of eating and/or the aesthetic food(ie) movement. Based on the interviews of Finnish food/restaurant enthusiasts and exponents of solo dining, the paper firstly depicts solo dining as a practice in which eating publicly alone is celebrated for the sake of enhanced aesthetic immersion. Secondly, the paper argues that solo dining can indeed be interpreted as a form of eating together and depicts the myriad ways, both concrete and “anonymous”, through which solo restaurant meals are shared between like-minded enthusiasts. Thus, the aesthetically oriented slice of solo dining becomes not understood as a complete departure from the ideal of shared public meals but as an alternative manifestation of commensality within an enthusiasm-based consumer group characteristic of late modern consumer culture
Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Context (archaeology · Enthusiasm · Political science · Recreation · Sociology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · History · Law · Organic Food and Agriculture · Psychology · Social Psychology · Wine Industry and Tourism
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Why do people eat alone? An international comparison
Emotional contagion and social dynamics
Psychological foundations of solo dining experience in tourism and hospitality industry. A mixed methods study
The workplace as a therapeutic landscape
Going ‘Solo’
Understanding Solo Dining as a Multifaceted Behavioural Response
Intergenerational Commensality
Using Social Media to Preserve Consumers’ Awareness on Food Identity in Times of Crisis
Eating apart together
Wining and dining out
Crafting ethically meaningful experiences
Eating Out
Title unavailable
Studying consumption through the lens of practice
Aesthetic Products and Aesthetic Consumption
The dynamics of dining out in the 21st century
The Intimacies of Industry
American Foodie
The embourgeoisement of beer
The emergence of authentic products
The omnivore’s neighborhood? Online restaurant reviews, race, and gentrification
Methodological challenges in using practice theory in consumption research. Examples from a study on handling nutritional contestations of food consumption
Elements of practice in the analysis of auto-ethnographical cooking videos
Understanding change and continuity in residential energy consumption
Domestic dinner
When materiality ‘bites back’
The holiday meal
Proper meals in transition
E ating out in four Nordic countries
Changes in the social context and conduct of eating in four Nordic countries between 1997 and 2012
Toward new forms of meal sharing? Collective habits and personal diets
Commensal eating patterns
Eating out in Spain
The changing meaning of eating out in three English cities 1995–2015
The Aesthetics of Everyday Life
The allure of variety
Commensality, society and culture
Just One? Solo Dining, Gender and Temporal Belonging in Public Spaces
Being One's Own Honoured Guest
The Sociology of Consumption
Inhibited from Bowling Alone
Taste Regimes and Market-Mediated Practice
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,4 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |