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Freedom of Access to Restaurants: Between Consumption and Dignity, a Critical Interpretation of the Right to a Table



Author(s)

Rui Aurélio De Lacerda Badaró

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DOI:10.17265/1548-6605/2026.01.002

Paulista University, Sorocaba, Brazil

This article investigates freedom of access to restaurants as a fundamental constitutional issue, transcending consumer law. Adopting critical hermeneutics in dialogue with Gadamer and Streck, it questions the existence of a fundamental right to non-discriminatory access to restaurants. The comparative analysis (Brazil, France, European Union, and United States) reveals convergence in protection against discrimination in establishments open to the public. The study identifies “neo-segregation”—contemporary forms of exclusion through apparently neutral mechanisms such as algorithms, selective dress codes, and veiled economic barriers. It concludes that access to restaurants constitutes an index of the realisation of human dignity and equality, proposing express recognition of this fundamental right. The restaurant emerges as a democratic microcosm where decisions are made about who belongs to the political community: Without a place at the table, there is no democracy.

right of access, discrimination, constitutional hermeneutics, restaurant, neo-segregation

Rui Aurélio De Lacerda Badaró.Freedom of Access to Restaurants: Between Consumption and Dignity, a Critical Interpretation of the Right to a Table.

US-China Law Review, Jan.-Feb. 2026, Vol. 23, No. 1, 16-26