A Field Guide to Where Do You Want to Eat

Scientists have mapped the ocean floor, yet no one has ever learned where a hungry couple wants to eat.

The conversation always starts the same way. One of you asks. The other says anything is fine. It is not fine. Anything has never been fine. Anything is a trap with a menu.

The four stages

• Politeness: I am easy, you pick.
• Rejection: Not there, we just went there. In March.
• Hunger: Voices get shorter. Someone opens a cupboard and sighs at a can.
• Surrender: You eat cereal, or you end up at the same taco place as always, and it is great.

The three-and-one method

This is the only tactic that has ever worked in our house. Person A names three places. Person B may veto one, then picks from the remaining two. Nobody gets to say anything is fine. Nobody gets to ask a follow-up about parking.

It takes under five minutes and removes the single biggest cause of Friday night silence.

The backup plan

Keep one dependable spot in reserve for hard nights, and agree in advance that choosing it counts as nobody losing. If the question still haunts you, we put it on a mug, so at least you can ask it silently over coffee and plan ahead.