The people have had enough. There appears to be a rising backlash to the almost ubiquitous restaurant trend of serving food on share plates.

One friend of mine is happy to share everything he has with his cat, his family and his friends. At home, he’ll cover the table with different dishes and turn the meal into a bacchanalian feast. But at a business lunch, he draws a line. What’s his is his.

It’s an intimate act, he argues, to clink spoons with a complete stranger as you both dive into a bowl of coleslaw. “It’s just not appropriate to ask a business associate, or someone you’ve just met, to share food,” he says. “It makes me, and them, uncomfortable.”

Another friend (yes, I have two) refuses to share because she always knows what she wants to eat. “I don’t want to eat what somebody else wants to eat,” she says.

So, who still loves sharing? Parents of small children do because they really only have time to eat the food that their child leaves on the plate (or the table-top or the chair).

People with severe FOMO (fear of missing out) love sharing because it means they can order as many dishes as possible and try a bit of everything. That’s not actually selfish, it’s generous, ensuring that nobody at the table misses out.

The ultimate public demonstration of sharing is, of course, the act of Holy Communion, in which an entire congregation shares bread and wine, albeit in single-serve portions.

I’ve always believed that sharing food and breaking bread with others are the whole point of eating.

Some people devise their own sharing strategy. My partner is perfectly happy with her chosen dish at a restaurant until she is halfway through, at which point she downs her knife and fork and stares at me until I am forced to hand my plate to her, and take hers in its place.

This has the added bonus of completely confounding the waitstaff, who are bringing pinot noir for the lamb and muscadet for the shellfish stew. “We’re married,” says my wife brightly, as if that explains everything.

I’ve always believed that sharing food and breaking bread with others are the whole point of eating. But even I can be swayed when it’s a single scoop of ice-cream in a cone on a hot day. In which case, go away and leave me alone.

theemptyplate@goodweekend.com.au