{"success":true,"queryParameters":{"includeMediaUrls":false},"results":[{"data":{"requestUrl":"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/americans-eat-too-fast_l_69162d7de4b0295c356b57cf?origin=life-feed","url":"https://www.huffpost.com/entry/americans-eat-too-fast_l_69162d7de4b0295c356b57cf?origin=life-feed","summary":"# This Subtle Eating Habit Will Clock You As An American Abroad\nSite Name: HuffPost\nPublished: 2025-12-09T12:00:17Z\n\nOne evening earlier this year, I was visiting Prague with family, and we hadn’t made dinner plans. We wandered into one restaurant at peak dinner time without a reservation. When I asked the hostess if she’d be able to seat us, she went to check with someone, then came back and said to us very cautiously, “Yes, but you can only have the table for three hours.”\n\nWe told her that would be more than enough. We were hungry, and also ... well, American.\n\nMost Americans who are fortunate enough to travel are probably aware of the “Rude American” stereotype — self-centered, demanding, inflexible — and don’t want to be perceived as such. If you’re hoping to blend in while traveling, you should know that your dining style could be giving you away.\n\nTomáš (who goes by his first name for privacy reasons), a staff manager at [Food Lab](https://www.food-lab.cz/), the restaurant we visited in Prague, finds that Americans “definitely” eat faster than guests from other places.\n\n“We have noticed that the eating cultures are vastly different in this sense,” he said. “Typically European and Czech people like to sit down and be social while eating. During lunches, it might be faster, but during evening dinings, it is always less about eating and more about enjoying the experience of both the food and the people.”\n\nAlex Francis, co-founder of the restaurant [De Vie](https://devie.bar/home/comptoir-devie) in Paris, echoed this.\n\n“I would say we definitely find guests from the U.S. go through the dining experience much quicker than Europeans,” Francis shared. “From our perspective, it comes down to consumption versus social function in a hospitality environment.”\n\nAs compared to Americans, whose primary focus is the food itself, “Europeans will tend to put more of an emphasis on the social function of a dinner or drink, regularly taking small breaks throughout the dinner, both during and between courses,” Francis said.\n\nIn the U.S. (and especially in New York, where I live), it’s usually considered impolite to monopolize a table for more than an hour and a half, maybe two hours. There are practical reasons for this: servers in the U.S. are typically paid below minimum wage and rely on tips to make up the bulk of their income, so there’s an incentive to turn as many tables as possible in a shift. If you dawdle at the table for an hour after you finish eating, without continuing to order anything, you’re keeping them from seating the next table and thus cutting into your server’s pay. In places where servers are paid a living wage, there’s less of a need to keep it constantly moving.\n\n> “Americans often treat time as performance and something to maximize, but abroad, a meal is a place to give time away.”\n> \n> \\- Ben Tansel\n\nIn lots of places around the world, mealtime and restaurants ultimately serve a different function than they do in the U.S. The food is important, but it’s not why people go out. A restaurant or café is first and foremost a place to socialize, relax, and soak in the atmosphere. For Americans traveling abroad, this can be a bit of an adjustment.\n\nDiana Edelman, a vegan [travel expert](https://www.instagram.com/thedianaedelman/) and tour coordinator, recalls ordering an espresso in Italy back when she was a less-experienced traveler.\n\n“I sat there with the tiny cup, unsure of what to do. I wondered, ‘Do I shoot it like a shot, or sip it?’ I looked around at the tables around me outside, all with their little cups. They would take it, take a tiny sip and put it back down. And proceed to sit for hours,” Edelman said.\n\n“The American in me couldn’t understand this. Why were they sitting for so long if their cups were done? What were they doing that allowed them to sit so long once their cups were done?”\n\nBut as Edelman came to appreciate, the Italians didn’t need a special reason to camp out at their local espresso bar — it’s just what you do. In Latin America and Spain, there’s the tradition of [_sobremesa_](https://wearecocina.com/blog/what-is-sobremesa-the-latino-tradition?srsltid=AfmBOoqyBftrd7jNwkmuplnOr6u_e6zbT6_U0ZkUZXxYFgpbFBc-DR0H), a word that translates literally to “upon the table,” but refers to the custom of socializing around the table after a meal, sometimes for hours. In many places outside the U.S., a coffee shop or restaurant isn’t just a place to get food or drink. Above all, it’s a place to just _be_.\n\n“In the U.S., world-class dining rooms like Eleven Madison Park, the pacing is engineered to feel seamless; every course arrives with precision, like part of a film reel. It feels a little separate from you, like a true show of service ... but it’s an incredible production,” said [Ben Tansel](https://e11b763a.streaklinks.com/CoOdKSmHx1cCfkQICQEBVrVm/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Fbentansel%2F), executive sous chef at the newly opened [Douro](https://e11b763a.streaklinks.com/CoOdKSmbW9NOlf3ozgjFgdK-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.douroportland.com%2F) in Portland, Maine, and 15-year veteran of New York kitchens, who spent the summer at Michelin-sister [Molino](https://e11b763a.streaklinks.com/CoOdKSm5uXpzXHxVzA8ukhuk/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.molinopizza.se%2F) in Sweden.\n\n“In Sweden and much of Europe, it’s not choreography, it’s a conversation. The meal unfolds around you, not for you. You can stay for hours. In fact, they want you to stay, enjoy the many spaces of the House, as hotels there like [Ett Hem](https://www.etthem.se/) call themselves (literally translated to “A Home” or “At Home”),” Tansel said.\n\nIn fact, some of the practices that make for what we consider “good service” at a typical American restaurant would be a faux pas in other places. Here, a server who checks in on you frequently is attentive; elsewhere, guests would find that overbearing. At American restaurants, a long wait for the check is an annoyance; in much of Latin America, for instance, it would be considered pushy and rude for a server to drop the check before you explicitly asked for it.\n\nManaging your expectations is key to both being a respectful traveler and to having the best possible travel experience. Anela Malik, a travel [writer](https://substack.com/@feedthemalik) based in Washington, D.C., informs her readers about cultural differences to know and respect — for instance, that in some places, dinner is served much later than you may be used to, and some cultures eat with their hands more often than with utensils. But above all, she advises travelers to “release your expectations” about the pacing of a meal, or what certain dishes will look or taste like.\n\n“My take: Americans should worry less about ’[not looking like tourists](https://unfilteredandfed.substack.com/p/just-be-a-tourist)’ and focus more on being respectful guests,” Malik said. “You _are_ a tourist. You will make mistakes. The job is to stay flexible, curious, and kind.”\n\nBeing clocked as an American isn’t always a bad thing, and servers who work in cities that are popular travel destinations are often prepared to adjust their approach to service based on the expectations and energy diners bring.\n\n“Contrary to most guests, North Americans tend to have very bubbly personalities,” observes Andres Villagomez, a bartender at [Side Hustle](https://go.skimresources.com/?id=38395X987171&xs=1&xcust=69162d7de4b0295c356b57cf&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hilton.com%2Fen%2Fhotels%2Flonnmnd-nomad-london%2Fdining%2Fside-hustle%2F) inside the NoMad London.\n\n“On the other end of the spectrum, other cultures and nationalities enjoy a more traditional or professional approach to service, so we usually begin each interaction in this manner,” Villagomez said.\n\n“Only after interacting with our guests and identifying a friendly table do we shift our style from a fine dining restaurant to a more informal style, more like if your Nonna was cooking you breakfast during the holidays.”\n\nIn other places, chatting with your server is quite normal. In Prague, “we are also quite a bit social,” advised Eva (who goes by her first name for privacy reasons), a shift manager at Food Lab. “Sometimes when you strike up a small conversation with some of our staff members, it can make it a better day for both sides.”\n\nEducating oneself about local customs and etiquette is necessary to avoid being an unpleasant cliché, but it’s also what’s going to help you have a richer experience of a place — and just maybe expand your horizons.\n\n“Americans often treat time as performance and something to maximize, but abroad, a meal is a place to give time away,” Tansel remarked.\n\n“Let the meal _be_ the next thing. Take a pause and look around. Enjoy the space. Listen to the room. That’s the whole point.”","minifetchCache":{"hit":"false","cachedAt":"2026-01-26T04:59:53.046Z","expiresAt":"2026-01-26T05:01:53.046Z"}}}]}