On your own

So we're back from Paris, we survived the endless queues, drunk Russians, and guys trying to sell us all kinds of stuff we don't need, and had an amazing time in between!

One thing I did notice, and it intrigued me. We had dinner in several small (very small, like 15 seats-small) restaurants, but also in some bigger, more touristy places. In all of these restaurants there were people sitting on their own, eating. Mostly these were women, but in the first small, vegetarian restaurant we visited, Le Potager du Marais, one Asian guy was also eating on his own (he spooned up the rich, dark chocolate mousse that took me 10 minutes in about 5 bites, which was another thing that amazed me, but that's neither here nor there).
Now in the Netherlands, it is highly unusual to sit in a restaurant on your own. It is also unusual to go to the theatre or cinema on your own, but more people do seem to be doing that. Eating alone, however, is not really done outside your own home, and when you see people doing it, they are generally businessmen, working on their laptop or making calls. Also, you would see most of them in the restaurants attached to the big department stores or more bar-restaurants, not in genuine "restaurants", and especially not in very small places where it is very noticeable that you're on your own.
What was interesting, I thought, was that most of the women were just quietly eating, some were reading a book, but most were just very relaxed, eating and talking to the staff (in the second small vegetarian restaurant, Le Puits de Legumes, one women actually kept bothering the about 20-year-old girl who ran the place on her own, so maybe some of them do need company). But on the whole, they seemed pretty happy about being there on their own. I think most of these women were French, but definitely some of them were tourists, including the aforementioned Asian guy, and in one Italian restaurant there was quite an old Italian guy who put away 4 courses in the time we finished one pizza.
But then there was an American girl who was waiting for her friend to join her, and she had to sit alone for about 10 minutes, and she was very uncomfortable about this. She kept looking as if she was afraid she would be thrown out of the restaurant any minute, even though there were more people sitting on their own. And there was an American couple (not in a relationship, just friends, the guy was gayer than gay), one half of which really didn't want to be in the small, weird vegetarian place she found herself in, and the other half profoundly thanked her several times for coming with him. He clearly wouldn't have gone there on his own, he needed her with him to go there.
So there you have it; some people do comfortably sit alone in a restaurant, eat their meal, and go on their way, while others cringe at the thought and would rather stay home. I think I'm of the latter category, I would have the idea that others would constantly be watching me and wondering why I'm not with someone; do I not have any friends? But maybe it's also a cultural thing; eating in the Netherlands is still more of a thing to get through before you can move on to things you really want to do, and if you go out to eat in a restaurant it is a "thing to do", a thing to do with other people, not something you just do. I wish it were, because eating in these small, out-of-the-way, eccentric places makes me very happy, and it should be acceptable to be on your own more, especially now that more and more people are staying single for longer times.
I would highly recommend both restaurants I mentioned in this post, even if you're not a veggie-hippie, because they serve great organic food, have nice staff whose English is far better than they give themselves credit for, and their general atmosphere is so much better than in the big chains where you're just a number. So go there. Even (or especially) if you are on your own.