Who knew that a bowl of pasta (or, crucially, two) could cause such a furore? The details of a recent dinner date between US President Joe Biden and the first lady Jill Biden have sent the internet into an absolute frenzy. While eating at The Red Hen restaurant in Washington, the first couple ordered a chicory salad, bread and butter and the restaurant’s signature rigatoni pasta.
So far, so ordinary — or so you might think. The “controversy” arises from the fact their order was a duplicate, with both tucking into exactly the same main course. And while the tomato and fennel sausage ragu does sound rather tasty, foodies are outraged that the couple didn’t each order a different dish, with almost 3,000 comments appearing under The Washington Post’s original article on the subject.
Whether you think that the Bidens' double order hints at long-term compatibility and savvy selecting (they’ve obviously found a dish they love and are staying loyal to it), or a boring, stuck-in-the-mud attitude might depend on your own approach to eating. Read on for our overview of the different restaurant-ordering personas jostling for space around the table and then consider: which one are you?
Persona: The strategist
The need to present strategists with an actual menu is pretty much obsolete. They will not only have already viewed the menu online, but also read the reviews, Googled the head chef and done a deep-dive into his or her cooking background, homed in on the restaurant’s best-selling dish, checked it out on Instagram and then planned the rest of their food choices around said item. As such, the strategist has little interest in hearing the specials and is frankly baffled by those who don’t follow their studious approach.
What they’ll be ordering: The restaurant’s signature dish, of course.
Persona: The risk taker
Bear Grylls has nothing on the risk taker, who views every meal out as an opportunity for experimentation, culinary exploration and the chance to sample something new (and let the world know about it on social media). RTs pride themselves on their intrepid appetites and are intent on seeking out the most obscure dish on the menu, all while regaling fellow diners with tales of the time they chowed down sheep's eyeball juice in Mongolia or white ant egg soup in Laos.
What they’ll be ordering: Anything with a side of danger.
Persona: The overorder-er
Say hello to the Fomo diner. So worried are overorder-ers about missing out on trying something tasty or, even worse, making a dud choice, they take things to the extreme and order excessively. The overorder-er is aghast at the thought of plates not being shared, insists on requesting a couple of extra items “for the table” and will always attempt to persuade their companions to select different dishes. To their credit, the overorder-er is not afraid to ask for a doggy bag to take leftovers home.
What they’ll be ordering: Everything.
Persona: The stick-to-what-you-know diner
This culinary-uncurious diner has zero interest in trying every dish on the menu, taking the view — much like the Bidens — that once you’ve hit the restaurant jackpot and discovered a meal you love, there’s little point in deviating from it ever again.
And while they may be accused of being too predictable — particularly by the likes of the risk taker — this type of restaurant goer is rarely disappointed (unless, of course, the restaurant in question removes their favourite dish from the menu). They also actively shy away from sharing; if they had to adopt a mantra it would be Matt LeBlanc’s from Friends: “Joey doesn’t share food”.
What they’ll be ordering: The usual.
Persona: The ambivalent eater
For the ambivalent eater, the restaurant experience is about far more than the dishes on the menu; in their eyes, it’s the music, the company, the banter and the beverages that make a meal out memorable. As such, ambivalent eaters barely glance at the menu before choosing their food, a move that simultaneously leaves both the strategist and the stick-to-what-you-know diner flabbergasted, albeit for entirely different reasons.
What they’ll be ordering: A dish plucked out at random or selected by a friend.
