Provecho!

I must admit this is from another website. But once I read it I realized I could not have said it better myself...

"One of the things that I really like about Mexican culture is the custom of saying provecho to other diners as you leave a restaurant. Provecho means bon appetit or “enjoy your meal”.

Usually as you get up to leave your table you say provecho to the people at the table nearest yours, but sometimes you hear people saying it as they pass more than one table.

When I’m in a restaurant I have a tendency to forget that I’m in a room full of people. My table and my companions and my food become my temporary little world. And I think that many Americans are just like me. There’s a sense in the U.S. that people want to be left alone when they are eating in a restaurant. So the last thing you are going to do when you are dining out there is to talk to the people at the next table.

But in Mexico that spell of isolation is broken. You ARE in a room full of people. And it’s acknowledged in a polite and particularly kind way. I like that." (hiddencancun.com)

This is totally true and can at times be startling. Once when David and I were leaving a small mom and pop restaurant with perhaps 6 tables in a town outside of Oaxaca, I said Adiós to the hostess and was surprised by seemingly everyone in the restaurant responding with Adiós!. I now realize I should have said Provecho!