Dear People Trying New Restaurants During Coronavirus, Where Have You Been? [OPINION]

Spend a little time on Facebook, and you're bound to come across a group someone started to promote local restaurants during the Coronavirus crisis. There are at least two of them for the Kalamazoo area and one for my hometown along the lakeshore,St. Joe/Benton Harbor.

Of course, their aim is true and there's a tangible good in connecting people who want to support restauranteurs and their staff.

But there has been something that's been troubling me about some postings to these groups. And a warning, there's likely to be an unpopular opinion ahead.

Scroll through one of these groups and it won't take you long to come across a post that starts something like this, "I just tried <famous local restaurant> and OMG they're so good."

Or "We're thinking of ordering from <famous local restaurnant> for the very first time ever, what do you recommend we try?!? And go..."

Is it just me or do you have to ask yourself, just where the $*(# have these people been all these years? It makes me wonder, did your eating-out routine consist of only McDonald's, Burger King and, when you're feeling fancy, Chili's or Applebee's?

Did it really take a global pandemic for you to discover local restaurants and break you out of your monotonous routine?

It's sad. Downright sad that you have never explored what your hometown, a town you likely claim to love, has to offer in terms of culinary adventures.

So do keep trying local restaurants. And, (unpopular opinion #2 here) support chains too. The franchisees are likely local. The servers and cooks there certainly are, and they deserve your support just as much.

But please, stop embarrassing yourself by flaunting your ignorance of the restaurants in your own hometown.