As restaurants continue to make a return across the nation, albeit forced outdoors, a sense of normality from the pre-COVID era becomes present. Dining in restaurants is a facet of our lives which we have always been used to, but with that taken away, it forced us to re-address and reconsider.
With the return of dining, specifically outdoor dining for the time being, restaurants all over have opened their doors, albeit limited. In New York, restaurants can receive a permit to set up additional tables along the sidewalk and, in some places, parts of the street, to make up for lost seats.
Outdoor dining is viewed by many as safer. Indoor dining would consist of air conditioning, especially in the hot summer months, which is proven to spread coronavirus should someone in the restaurant exhibit it.
However, many of the outdoor restaurants I pass by do not even have the customers sitting within six feet of each other. They’re limited with space, and so to maximize profit, they cram as many tables as they can in their space, making social distancing impossible. Not to mention the fact that eating with a mask on is impossible.
Now, there is yet another factor that is present in many restaurants I have seen, especially since the reopening, and it is a factor that could and should be addressed. And that factor is the lack of disposable utensils, cups and glasses.
When you sit down outside your favorite restaurant tonight, and pick up your fork and knife, and take a sip from your wine glass, do you consider the idea that someone before you drank from that very glass, and inserted that very same fork into their mouth?
Now, restaurants will claim that they properly sterilize their items after use. However, with that process happening behind closed doors, it’s simply impossible to know that for sure. Not to mention, it is known that many smaller-scale restaurants and take-out joints simply wash their glasses and utensils in a sink, rather than a sterilized dish washer, which is unsanitary.
There is only one real solution to this: disposable utensils and cups. Plastic forks and knifes, as well as one-time use cups, will solve this problem. Yes, that means that for the time being, wine glasses will have to disappear. But you can still drink from a plastic cup of equal size.
A few, and I mean a few, restaurants I have passed have been using disposable utensils and cups, and those are the restaurants that I have been eating at.
The others? Well, they’re left behind in the dust.
And I suggest you do the same.
Chris is a writer and publisher who travels America, and loves doing it. He also loves pizza, video games, and sports, and can tell you a thing or two about each. Follow him on Medium to be informed of new articles.
