Across America, empty tables are gathering dust.

No more clatter of pans from restaurant kitchens, from Michelin-starred eateries to neighbourhood

pizzerias.

Most of America's independent restaurants employing over 10 million people have been

shutted for weeks.

Even as stay at home orders are lifted, they contemplate a future in which good service

means as little interaction with diners as possible.

Where the numbers of people they can feed in a night is severely reduced, and a future

without sharing plates.

No one looking their fingers, however, tastes you the sauce.

You're listening to The Economist's Ask.

I'm Anne McElvoy, and this week we're asking, how will Covid-19 change the way we eat?

My guest is Marcus Samuelson, born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden for the last 25 years

he's been a proud New Yorker.

As a bright young thing at Aquavita High End Scandinavian restaurant, he won the James

Beard Award for New York City's best chef.

In search of different flavours, he went on to found his own place, Red Rooster, in the

heart of Harlem, known for reimagining local soul food alongside Swedish classics, so

think cornbread and meatballs with a twist of Ethiopian spice.

He now runs 31 restaurants in eight countries, and he hosts the TV series No Passport Required,

exploring America's many immigrant cuisines.

But the last few months have presented a very different challenge.

...