Food courts

Today in the process of entertaining my overseas visitors I took them on a mini tour of Melbourne - and of course at some point we needed to have some lunch. A 'proper' lunch was not what was required - just a snack kind of lunch so we went to the food court in Southgate. Which got me to reflecting on food courts in general.

First thing - how long have they been around? Because I am sure there was no such thing in my youth - and now they are everywhere - well they are in tourist precincts like Southgate, every shopping mall/centre, airports, universities. Well apparently the first known successful one was in New Jersey, USA and was created in 1974. The very first (at Plymouth Meeting Mall in 1971) was 'deemed too small and insufficiently varied.' (Isn't Wikipedia amazing? - it even has an article on the food court!)

The first one I ever came across was in Honolulu at the Ala Moana Centre and it was huge - here it is:

I seem to remember it was somehow below ground - but maybe not. It was completely daunting - the choice of food - but pretty appropriate for a place to eat with our small children - small children are very fussy and food courts are simple as far as food is concerned (well not really), and cheap. I had never seen anything like it.

Now they are commonplace, and somewhat more sophisticated too. Yes you can get just coffee and cake, or an ordinary sandwich but you can get a whole lot more. Our English visitors were fascinated, for example, by the Vietnamese option which had a whole range of spring rolls on view. Frequently, as always with fast food - for this is a version of fast food - the portions are too large - those sandwiches in particular are often much too big. Though the Vietnamese spring rolls were an OK size - as was the spinach and ricotta roll that I chose. Which was a bit unadventurous - and really only OK - and I didn't appreciate the plastic knives and forks - but then I guess there is no alternative to that really. They would lose too many real knives and forks I guess. I should have been more adventurous and sought out some of the more exotic Asian goodies on offer. But this is the thing - I still always feel overwhelmed and out of my depth in such places. Which is very silly.

They obviously fulfil a need - though I'm not sure I would 'dine' in one. There is always something marginally seedy about them to my mind, in spite of the increasing sophistication of the food. Perfect for a quick lunch or a cup of coffee and a slice of cake, but not a great place to eat a proper meal. What I found amazing was how many people were indeed eating full-size meals - big bowls of pasta, pizzas ...

So are they a good thing or a bad thing? Well like almost everything it depends how you treat them. There is something very downgrade and plasticky about them - and about the environment there too, but they needn't be. If I had been more adventurous I could probably have sourced something really delicious - sweet or savoury and if the weather had been nicer I could have sat outside on the riverfront and enjoyed the stunning view of the city. As it was - it fulfilled its purpose.

Useful - check them out carefully and you can eat well. Or just stick to coffee - the cappuccino (as discussed yesterday) was pretty nice.

So here's to Southgate, Melbourne - seen here from Prince's Bridge I think. A pleasant place to be on a Tuesday afternoon even if it was raining a bit.