CBS 2Folks in the Big Apple are
illegally eating things! The CBS affiliate in New York City today
uncovered the scary, secret world of illegal, underground dinner
parties.

No, this is not a joke or a parody, though it will really feel
like one for the first few seconds of the clip. The news casters
treat this situation with the same slightly amazed and shocked tone
that they use when they cover the “underground world of raves.” You
know which story I’m talking about. Every local news affiliate runs
one every sweeps period. Here’s some of the text,
but I can’t really do the reading justice:

The diners are a mix of New Yorkers and tourists. CBS 2’s
undercover cameras captured one experience — eight people who
didn’t know each other eating a meal in a stranger’s home.

That hostess, Naama Shafi, writes about food but is not a chef.
[Reporter Tamara] Leitner found her through a website, which
connects amateur foodies and professional chefs in 20 different
countries with people who want unique dining experiences.

Clandestine dinner parties like the one Leitner attended have
become more common in New York City. And insiders told Leitner they
are completely unregulated.

Undercover cameras, y’all. If you’ve watched enough local news
you should be able to hear the slight alarm in the reporter’s voice
in your head when she uses words like “stranger’s home” and
“completely unregulated.” But I encourage you to watch the whole
thing. It gets both funnier but also infinitely maddening when they
bring in a consulting firm made up of retired health inspectors who
now make a living advising restaurants on how to comply with the
regulations they used to enforce. They weigh in on the illegality
of the whole thing, and then the reporter returns to tell Shafi how
illegal it is that she’s having dinner parties. She could be fined
$2,000.

(Hat tip to Fish)