A recent poll found that 49% of Britons consider over-attentive waiters the most annoying aspect of eating out, while 34% cited “uncaring” waiting staff as their biggest gripe; 41% of customers said they’d write about a bad experience on social media before even leaving the restaurant (ah! a practical example of social media improving our lives).

In America diners don’t like to have empty plates in front of them, and the moment you finish a hovering waiter whips your plate away. Some while ago I remonstrated with a waiter about this. My wife eats slowly and feels she is been hustled and harried by this intrusive and disagreable habit. The apologetic waiter said to me, sotto voce, that he came from Austria, where it is considered the height of bad manners to remove plates from the table while a diner is still eating. He was simply conforming to local custom.

Some may eat to live, but Epicureans live to eat, modestly and moderately (in between thinking about life). But they don’t want to be chased out of the restaurant so that the management can seat a further round of customers.