Did you ever think about the concept of restaurants?

It finally happened for me and my owners took me to the place where food is prepared by others and served in exchange for money – the restaurant. It was a special occasion, the birthday of one of my owners, but for me, it was double the excitement since it was the first time visiting such premises.

The first impression was marvelous. While entering the restaurant a man already waited for us to take our coats. I was only wearing a butterfly around my neck that I always wear for special occasions like this one. The men then led us to our table where we sat down and another nice young man appeared offering us the menus – papers with lists on them humans can choose from. It was astonishing how easy one can have food when one has the money to pay for it.

While my owners and their friends took their time to pick something out I was wondering why humans enjoy going to restaurants so much. I guess some of them are simply too tired to prepare any food at home or do not possess the ability to cook at all. Like me, I cannot cook,  however, the reason for that is confusion mostly, the tools needed for cooking are really something, and with flippers instead of hands, not easy.  It can be also one of the reasons why people go to restaurants, they do not have the tools needed for the preparation of a specific meal. Going to a restaurant also does not involve preparation ahead and for many humans, it is time-saving.

As I observed my human owners and their friends I realized restaurants are also places of congregation and communication. To me, it looked like a public room yet with certain privacy around it. Different than at home. Restaurants seem to provide much entertainment for humans (at least the one we visited, where they prepared the food in front of us and I can only recommend it – Benihana).

Last, but not least is that human comfort is much included. I mean really, no dishes as one finishes, and there is dedicated stuff around you fulfilling one’s wishes.  Not to mention the greediness of humans to try something new and later brag about it – as did I :).

There is even a special word for someone who is eating a meal, especially in a restaurant, first used in 1815  – diner. Some even use more silly words like restaurant-goer, eater-out, etc.

I myself came up with a word for penguins eating in restaurants – pentaurant.

Yet, restaurants are not a modern-day establishment only. They date way back to ancient times where humans ate at street vendors and public cooks. In Medieval times humans had taverns and monasteries. But the modern age restaurant was apparently a byproduct of the French Revolution (whatever that was).

Nevertheless, I really enjoy human establishments called restaurants and cannot wait to visit one again.

Keeping wondering, what is your reason for going to a restaurant?