Pantyhose Required

Photo: Flickr/Dennis Wong

All weekend I’ve been preparing for a major Passover seder. It’s major because it’s my first. Throughout the iPhone recipe briefings and constant picture sending, my mother has been incredibly supportive. I’m lucky.

This whole experience makes me think back to eating in and eating out throughout my childhood. My father, a physician in Houston, used to take us to the “Doctor’s Club” on very special occasions. It was a huge deal. Dresses and fancy shoes, suits and ties. I LOVED IT (also loved the filet mignon and bananas foster). But the food, in my young mind, was almost an afterthought.   It felt incredibly elegant and special; we almost spoke to each other differently. My father would pull out the chair for me and us kids actually tried to chew with our mouths closed.   So when I read MC Slim JB’s blog post on the golf shirtification of fine dining in Boston, I could truly relate.

I’m not sure whether fine dining is dying in Boston but I do know that it simply can’t die in my world.

Fine dining teaches us more than just learning how to dress up. It makes us put away our phones and really talk to each other. White tablecloth restaurants still require a high level of civility, something that is indeed lacking in day to day interaction. Just check out this article from this weekend’s New York Times. A good friend of mine at a Dorchester-based tuition free school used to take her honor-roll achieving middle schoolers to a fancy dinner in downtown Boston once a year.  The students would prepare for the experience, go over what to expect, and even rehearse.  It was a cultural experience.   And it continues to be, whether it’s your first time eating out or your fiftieth.

I’m just as obsessed with checking my email as the next person, but sometimes you need an environment, an ambiente to remind you what it really means to eat a meal.

Read MC Slim JB’s post HERE.

What do you think?  Is fine dining a lost art?  Is it important in your life?  Could you live without it?  Share your thoughts below or find us on Facebook.

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About

Associate Producer, Here & Now Most recently, Jessica worked as an associate producer at WBUR's daily local program, Radio Boston. Jessica moved to Boston in 2008 and has lived many places since leaving her native Texas. After graduating from college, Jessica worked as a federal employee, documentary film festival producer, oral historian, university teaching assistant, traveling saleswoman and klezmer musician. Her work and projects have appeared in The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Bust, Barnard Magazine, National Public Radio, Public Radio International (PRI), and the BBC. Jessica's freelance radio work has received various awards including accolades from the Religion Newswriters Association and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. As a Fulbright Scholar in El Salvador, Jessica collected and studied oral histories from the Jewish Community based in San Salvador. Jessica received her B.A. in political science from Columbia University’s Barnard College and her M.A. in history from Indiana University. She learned how to make radio from the phenomenal folks at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Jessica lives in Somerville with her husband, twin son and daughter, and two cats. To learn more about Jessica’s projects, both current and past, please visit www.jessicaalpert.com.

One thought on “Pantyhose Required”

  1. A Plum By Any Other Name

    I couldn’t agree more. It’s something the French have been so good at for so long; I just think there is something so celebratory about truly taking time to enjoy a meal. Though, I don’t think it has to be a fancy or expensive place, per say, but it’s all about making an event out of it. A dining “experience.”