Gen Zers are suffering from 'menu anxiety,' and some are scared to order their own food at restaurants, new survey finds

Business Insider ^ | 16 Dec 2023 | Sawdah Bhaimiy

[cyclotic]

I travel a lot for my job. Just got done packing for a Christmas vacation. I probably eat 500 restaurant meals a year.

Occasionally I’ll sit down and nothing jumps out. I just order something and enjoy it anyway. I’ve choked at the prices a couple times but never had an anxiety attack.

Once I even told the waitress “surprise me.”

I need to do that again.

[rlmorel]

Love that movie!

[Cobra64]

These people don’t “dine.” They’ve never even seen a linen tablecloth, much less a knife and fork.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I have a deli where I stop about once a week. I have gone through the menu so I just tell the owner, "Whatever you think sounds good today." He is from Louisiana and knows I will eat most anything. Dang but he makes a good sandwich.

[Drew68]

What the Gen Z’s describe here are very common thoughts that most people have flitting here and there within their minds.

It's true, the cost of eating out can be stressful, particularly with McDonald's prices today equivalent to what nice, sit-down restaurants used to cost a few years ago.

And, yes, I'm guilty of having "entree envy" as well, wishing I had ordered something different. Who isn't?

I do think it's funny though, the Gen-Z requirement that restaurant meals be presentable for Instagram.

[cowboyusa]

Yep, my Grandpa was there. He was 26.

[roving]

I tried out all the local restaurant’s meatloaf. Big mistake. None of them tasted like meatloaf. The bad news is we’re getting a new restaurant, and I’m going to have to try out their meatloaf too.

Maybe I’ll feel better if I take pictures of the so-called meatloaf and post it on social media.

[VastRWCon]

Enjoy the reality

[roving]

If you have Android, that’s a new update.

[EvilCapitalist]

Exactly what they need. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWTh8inHgpQ

[EvilCapitalist]

What a bunch of Pussies.

[lee martell]

Tell them “What You See, Is What You Get!”

[catnipman]

sounds like yet another symptom of Snowflakeitis ...

[PGR88]

I get menu anxiety when I go into Chinese Restaurants and they literally have 200 different things listed on their menus.

[markman46]

Social media and the rise of the influencer, has gen z all screwed up on how things they order would look on social media.

[Drew68]

I get menu anxiety when I go into Chinese Restaurants and they literally have 200 different things listed on their menus.

Chinese restaurants perplex me.

Every Chinese restaurant in America has the same 200 items on their menu. Each dish will taste the same no matter what restaurant you visit. None of the food on the menu is anything that Chinese people themselves actually eat.

Is there some kind of school they go to learn how to prepare Chinese food for Americans?

[Michael.SF.]

Sweetbreads are great!!!

[FlingWingFlyer]

The Whimp Generation. Sissified and pussified. And people make fun of baby boomers. LOL. They’d grow up a hell of a lot better people if they’d leave the nest a lot earlier. That 20s and 30s booschidt in mommy and daddy’s basement is a little silly.

[PGR88]

Is there some kind of school they go to learn how to prepare Chinese food for Americans?

LOL. You are exactly correct.

The reason is that most Chinese restaurants in the USA, especially the small, strip-mall kind - are not actually run by people who know anything about cooking. Its someone in the family, or some college student they've hired. They just want to make money, maybe watched a couple Youtube videos, and they figure Americans will have no clue anyway what its supposed to taste like.

[Harpotoo]

No wonder they can’t recruit.
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