The Food Court

Here I am in the all too familiar surrounds of a shopping mall food court. I have already done my duty at one of the many food stalls that surround the seating area.

I am in the eastern suburbs of Sydney at a newly built shopping complex, so the food stalls on offer are quite fashionable and include several coffee and cake stalls, a vegetarian food stall, a trendy up market grill, a crepe stall, and an Indian food stall amongst others.

I am happy to find that there are no large chain fast food stalls in sight. This is very pleasing news. I also note that none of the stalls have large overhead picture menus. All rely on either direct viewing of the food on offer through glass-fronted counters or simple printed text menus standing on the counter tops. This seems to give this particular food court a more inviting and less garish look and feel.

The seating here is also quite different to the usual set up in these venues. There are several styles of seating and tables on offer, from simple modern cube style seating at small round tables, through to square tables with four seats, benches and even some armchair style seating.

Something I notice is that with the exception of the bench seats scattered about, all other seating and tables are not fixed. I also notice that planting and lighting walls vaguely divide this particular food court into smaller sections.
All of these things seem to give it a rather appealing and almost intimate feel as opposed to the usual fixed seat and table open plan arrangement of the more common food courts.

One that remains the same is the sound. It has the unmistakable mixture of cutlery, plates, children, teenagers, and shopping centre music all combining to give that all too familiar food court soundtrack.

Glancing around the food court, I notice the usual blend of patronage here enjoying a mid afternoon snack. Luckily for me, it's past lunchtime and not yet time for dinner to start. I am sitting here enjoying a Soymilk latte and a wedge of caramel cheesecake, whilst casually taking in the whole scene.

There is quite a good view form the floor to ceiling windows that overlook Bellevue Hill and Woollahra. Again this is something that is far from common in a shopping mall food court. Usually they are windowless and all lighting comes from harsh overhead fluorescent tubing, whilst this food court enjoys the luxury of mostly natural daylight streaming in through the windows enhanced with some soft warmer bulb style down lights.

Another common site in food courts are the cleaning trolleys that are regularly wheeled past by staff that patrol the area by maneuvering their way back and forth, plucking abandoned plates, cups and utensils from the tables of recent diners. I must admit though that the staff here are doing an excellent job of keeping the entire eating area clean and thus inviting to be in.

Browsing around I see a women, probably in her mid fifties and wearing very typical summer clothing for her age bracket. A lime green short-sleeved blouse and matching pants made from what appears at this distance to be linen. She is currently browsing the stalls deciding what may be to her liking for this mid Tuesday afternoon break.

So far she has passed up on the Indian, crepes, vegetarian, and the grill and she now stands looking at the fresh options that the sandwich stall has to offer.
This is now likely to bring a very common site in the food court. So many options, so close to each other often leads to an almost mental breakdown of the senses for the potential diner as they contemplate, then re-contemplate the options that are bombarding them.

So often a potential diner will wonder back and forth unable to decide just what it is that they want. It appears that the woman in green is having this experience right now.

This process is a much more physical one than the similar process that goes on in a restaurant or cafe. When in a cafe or restaurant, the confused potential diner uses their eyes to browse the menu for the options on offer, and if dining with another person, then perhaps also their voice to decide just what it is that they feel like eating and drinking.

Here in the food court it is a totally different approach altogether.

It usually starts with a quick 'lap' of the seated area on a quick reconnaissance mission of the food available. A second lap will then focus in on the most desired of all the food options on offer. Another odd characteristic of the food court is that you often have to order separate items from different food stalls. Perhaps a sandwich from one stall, a freshly blended juice from another, and possibly even a coffee from a third stall altogether.

This all takes time.

After lining up perhaps three times at separate stalls, going through the process of waiting, ordering, paying and sorting change each time, you finally have what it is that you have chosen and can now proceed to locate somewhere to sit and eat.

This in itself brings another whole new complication to the dining experience. If you came with another person, it is highly likely that you became separated during the food selection process above. This usually means that the person who acquires all of their chosen delicacies first, will notice their friend (or friends) still in line at one of the stalls and proceed to find adequate seating for the party they came with.

If you are this person (or if you are alone in your dining experience) then there is now a whole new set of options and decisions that you need to make. What sort of seats? What size table? Should you sit near the windows? Near the edge or towards the middle?

You also need to consider the neighbors that will be dining near you. If you are adults with no children in your party, then you will likely want to avoid areas that have screaming children, although this can be near impossible in a crowded food court. It can also be wise to be as far as possible away from any loud food processing machines, like coffee grinders, and also to be away from the central cleaning stations. These are the areas that the cleaning carts return to periodically, following one of their swoops of the eating area, to unload all of their dirty items and dispose of rubbish and food scraps. So you may find yourself engulfed with the rather unpleasant aroma of Asian food, mixed with Indian food, mixed with stale coffee, kebab remnants, fruit salad, yoghurt, and any other food combination you can possibly imagine. This is not a pleasant dining experience and this area needs to be avoided at all costs.

Other areas to avoid include thoroughfares or areas just below balconies or stair railings. Children (and perhaps even adults) leaning over these railings and noticing your fully loaded plates and cups right below them may just not be able to resist the temptation to add something to your meal or drink in one way or another when you aren't paying attention.

If you manage to avoid all of these areas, you may be able to locate a spot that you can relax in and enjoy your meal, snack or beverage.

If on the other hand you find your companion not still in one of the food stall queues, you now have to try and locate them somewhere in all of this chaos as it is likely they have already chosen a seat and table.

Now you need to stand at the edge of the seating area, visually scanning the tables for your friends. They may in fact be frantically waving their arm trying to get your attention, but most likely you will not notice this with all the movement and noise going on.

Your food will start to get cold and you will start to realise that perhaps getting a quick bite to eat in the food court, rather than 'going to the trouble' of eating at a cafe, may in fact have been the wrong decision as it is now thirty-five minutes since you first entered the food area and here you are with a tray in your hands, your coffee going cold, your sandwich soaking through and you have no free hand with which to use your mobile to locate your friend.

The woman in green has all of these exciting decisions still in front of her.