The article is from WeChat public account: Interface Culture (ID: BooksAndFun) , author: Pan Wenjie, from FIG title: Oriental IC

Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the four departments in Shanghai jointly released the “Proposal on the Use of Public Chopsticks and Spoons” in February. The next day, the first batch of 100 restaurants in Shanghai promised that they would be equipped with the corresponding public chopsticks and spoons according to the number of diners and the number of dishes. In addition, conditional restaurants will also provide guests with a meal-sharing system.

Zhang Chunyi, author of the article “Advocating public chopsticks for meals,” saw that as early as 2003 during the SARS period, the call for the implementation of the public chopsticks and meal-sharing system had once surged. At that time, the China Hotel Association also specially formulated the “Conditions and Service Standards for the Meal-sharing Facilities in the Catering Industry”, and proposed that one meal, one chopsticks, one spoon, and one person, one plate should be used for general feasts. For conference meals, more buffets and public chopsticks were used Meal style, and formally declare mandatory national standards to the former National Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau. With the end of the atypical pneumonia epidemic, the public’s enthusiasm for chopsticks and meals has gradually diminished, and the relevant standards have disappeared.

The habit of serving chopsticks and meals seems difficult to cultivate, but in fact, the meal-sharing system has a long history in China. Under the hierarchy, the meal-sharing system has been strengthened in the form of “ceremonies.” Whether it is in works such as “Hongmen Banquet”, “Water Margin” and other works of art, such as “Han Xi Zai Ban Yin Yin Tu”, Dunhuang frescoes, this way of dining has been reflected. But with the disappearance of kneeling, eating and drinking