Please enable JavaScript or click here to learn how to. Restaurant Biz Corner Director's Corner Food Safety Finders Keepers Cust. Yes, you read that right. The definition is necessary because, in a way, people have been eating out since the dawn of time. But these places catered mainly to the poor, and the food prepared was designed to be eaten on the run, so they don't really qualify as restaurants.
Inns are closer to the mark.
Almost every town, village and waystation had some kind of an inn, even if it was only a private home that rented rooms to travelers. Of course, Europe during the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages was a fairly primitive society. The only people with anything that could be described as a disposable income were the wealthy, and they usually had their own cooks at home where the rituals of dining became highly complex. In China the situation was different. When Marco Polo journeyed to Hangchow in 1280, he found a city dedicated to the enjoyment of food, with restaurants dedicated to almost every specialty.