Photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]
Photo is unrelated to the article. [Getty Images Bank]

A family left a restaurant without finishing their meal after the owner stopped them from feeding homemade baby food to their 15-month-old, citing a ban on outside food.

The story of a woman in her 30s, identified only as A, was recently featured on JTBC's "Sageon Banjang," a TV current-affairs program.

A visited a spicy stir-fried chicken restaurant with her husband and child. After paying for their meal in advance, she took out a thermos of baby food to feed her hungry infant — at which point the owner approached the table.

"Can't you see the sign at the entrance saying no outside food?" the owner said. "You can't feed that here."

A explained that it was simply baby food and that she had brought it along to keep the child from fussing while hungry, but the owner was unmoved. "Even if it's baby food, it's still outside food," the owner said. "We don't allow any outside food brought in."

The family ultimately left without properly eating the dish they had ordered.

"I completely understand the no-outside-food policy itself," A said. "But this isn't adult food — it's baby food. I brought it precisely so the baby wouldn't cry and disturb other customers, and I never expected to be treated so rudely."

Attorney Son Su-ho, who reviewed the case on the program, said he generally respects restaurant owners' policies but found this one excessive. "Feeding a baby doesn't cut into sales, and it doesn't produce smells that would bother other diners," he said. "I see absolutely no reason to have blocked it."

Park Sang-hee, a psychology professor, said that while baby food could technically be classified as outside food, infants have no alternative. "A baby on pureed food can't eat spicy stir-fried chicken," she said. "This is just being needlessly rigid."

Attorney Park Ji-hoon also weighed in, saying not all outside food is automatically prohibited. "It seems like the owner is fixated on the wording of that one sign," he said.


choigo@heraldcorp.com