Taking the Bite Out of Dining Out Alone

Lynell George’s “Dining Alone Doesn’t Have to Be Lonely” (May 25) was very interesting to me. I come from New York, where people are less self-conscious and afraid of seeming unpopular. I have been dining alone since I was a young secretary in that city and have never felt embarrassed.

I think confidence is the key to being able to enter a restaurant with head held high, not slinking in with the hope that no friends will see you in the solo state. I think it was Lord Peter Wimsey of whom someone said: “He never feels out of place in any situation.” If you don’t feel out of place, people will not think you so.

George mentions that the experience can be adventure, and I found this to be the case on several occasions. Once I was seated at a counter next to a young chap. We started talking, left the place together and later became friends. Another time an elderly lady asked to share my table, and she turned out to be an ex-opera singer. The story of her life would have made a good novel.

KATHARINE McCORMACK

Tarzana