Originally published by Loic Le Meur on LinkedIn: What do you prefer - a French or a Silicon Valley dinner?
Yesterday I had a very very very French dinner in Paris. It lasted about 4 hours. Everyone had fun and there was basically absolutely no business conversation involved. Or there was one that I randomly started myself (I could not help it) but everyone switched very fast to other topics.
Like food.
We talked about the amazing food our host prepared for us (thanks, Sibylle). We talked even more about food as we had one of the editors of a very popular food mag in France attending the dinner. I learned a lot about sea-food, pastries and cheese. Oh wait yes, we also talked about cheese. A lot. There was probably a good forty minutes just talking about how amazing all that cheese was, cheese by cheese. Region by region. Supplier by supplier. We also talked about which friends of friends were so instrumental to get us that “tuerie de Saint Nectaire” on our plates. We had an American guest and joked most Americans do not know how to cut Roquefort cheese. Don't ever cut for yourself where there is the most "blue". Cut from the sides that have less blue and get a little of the very blue and a little of the very white so everyone gets some of the best parts.
I started thinking about how different life is in Silicon Valley.
Most dinners are business dinners. Sure, there are many dinners with friends with no specific agenda but they generally happen in restaurants.
Very few people cook for each other. If it’s at home it’s often food delivered from a startup like caviar or for the wealthier hosts a private chef.
I cannot recall any dinner longer than 1h30 for a long time. People like to go fast. There is often an agenda or a business reason to gather. There is a product launch or it is a venture capitalist gathering investors and potential startups. Or it could be a bank offering a wine tasting with a chef who paired the meals. Everyone knows it is customers of that bank mixed with some sales leads. I go to many dinners like those and enjoy them, do not get me wrong, but they are different.
There are also Jefferson dinners I had never heard about before moving to the U.S. There is one set topic. Everyone talks about it one after each other. Sometimes there is an expert presenting about that topic. I often saw even powerpoint slides before the dinner starts.
In France if you’re invited to dinner, it will by default be a “seated” dinner. The French would not even understand why we would say “seated”. It’s obvious. We are going to be seated and enjoy everyone’s presence for a long time. There won’t be any other agenda. There won’t be any topic.