I noticed the trend of switching from eating out to getting delivered meals in pre-pandemic years in countries like mainland China and South Korea. I’m not a fa

I noticed the trend of switching from eating out to getting delivered meals in pre-pandemic years in countries like mainland China and South Korea. I’m not a fan of it, and perhaps there’s more to that than just the subjective “oh no, things are bad because they aren’t the way they used to be” bias on my side. — Visiting a restaurant in person gives a glimpse of how they operate (Bourdain’s “clean toilets” measure and all), which seems important when discovering new places. Without that, you have to mostly rely on online optics when determining whether they’re even sanitary (doesn’t sound realistic to expect government regulation to frequently check every single place that prepares food for delivery). — Near impossibility of establishing anything resembling a personal relationship between yourself and people who prepare your meal and/or the business owner, and indeed those you trust to bring it to you. The former applies more to smaller restaurants, but they are incidentally also the places one would feel most inclined to consciously support. — Further contribution to sedentary/low-mobility lifestyle. — Uncertainty about how much of your payment goes to the restaurant and also comes into play, though I already wonder about that every time I pay with plastic. — When choosing to dine at a place that also does delivery (with delivery workers visibly coming in and leaving), it could be hard to shake the feeling of being in a place where other customers would rather pay someone they don’t know to go rather than coming in person. — Somewhat tangentially, a walk in Seoul became almost hazardous because of delivery scooters ignoring traffic rules with deafening noise—trying to squeeze as many deliveries in an hour as possible, while shaving costs on mufflers and/or vehicle maintenance. Presumably, this also has to do with specifics of local law enforcement, but I can’t help but think how dominance of meal delivery could change the walkability and urban landscape of any city over longer term. The trend was boosted by the pandemic and I hope it will fall back afterwards. Small but quality local restaurants and cafes can be satisfying to discover and visit when you can.