Nude Dining And Why It Isn’t Mainstream — Just Yet

For a short while, it looked like nude dining was good to become the next big food thing in big cities around the world. There were numerous openings of nudist restaurants that attracted lots of attention and heralded a new era for food eaten in the nude.

There have been multiple one-time events at clubs, bars, cruises and private celebrations that made eating and drinking naked normal over the years.

An event that especially drew the attention of many involved twin brothers Stéphane and Mike Saada's inauguration of the O’Naturel restaurant in Paris in November, 2017.

“We’re in the heart of Paris and we’re eating naked,” Yves Leclerc, president of the French Naturist Federation, said at the time.

He called it surreal and claimed it felt like they were on a holiday. He lamented about how he had to wear clothes just to visit restaurants where he came from.

The O'Naturel restaurant seemed like a response to the growing trend toward “the positive experience of nudity,” and the nudist organizations were “aux anges.”

France is known to contain the world's largest amount of nudists and is recognized as the world's top destination for nude tourism. 

Nudist events that draw the attention of the world happen almost regularly in France: you could be naked and make visits to museums, there is a new, summer-only nudist zone in the ‘Bois de Vincennes, Paris’s largest park, and even things like naked stand-up comedy, bowling and swimming.

Unfortunately, novelty dining experiences like nudist dining still have years to mature. Just over a year after their highly-publicized opening, the brothers announced closure of their business.

Some critics claimed the ambience  was “cold” and that the traditional French menu was lacking in imagination.

Others pointed out a problem of location, which was east of Paris in the 12th arrondissement, a long distance from the tourist center and main attractions.

The brothers, who are not nudists themselves, later revealed that they had to close down because they were barely getting any customers. They admitted they had a good start but would not keep the restaurant running when only a few dared to come.

The same has happened to many other nudist enterprises so it is safe to say that the world simply may not be ready for that advancement yet.