Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

Former restaurant critic Brian Duff examines the restaurant at a critical moment. In the last few decades restaurants and food culture have achieved extraordinary cultural purchase. A well-executed appetizer or entrée became important achievements, chefs became heroes and thought leaders, dining out became theater, plating became art, and the supertaster became the savant.

But in recent years the restaurant has faced crisis upon crisis: revelations of sexism and harassment, racism and low pay, unsafe and unfair conditions of labor, and Covid. Having taken a pandemic era break from our habits of eating out, might we return to the table with a new awareness, and a forgetfulness regarding old habits? Restaurant takes a deep dive into the drives, desires, and anxieties associated with dining out and suggests that, because of the meaning we find in good food, the restaurant offers unique opportunities to change the quality of our engagement with others and create shared meaning across the table.