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There are many ways to share meals. We generally consider sharing a meal when we gather around the table. In today’s world, people are busy; schedules are filled with work and outside activities, leaving little time to gather to break bread.

Meals often are quick stops at home for something to put between two slices of bread, to pop in a microwave, or fast food on the go. Few of today’s modern families take time to prepare a homemade family meal. When friends gather, it is no longer to sit at a table; it is often pizza from the kitchen counter. We seem to sit to eat only when we are in a restaurant.

What Sharing a Meal Should Genuinely Be

In my book, Generations of Good Food, I share stories of the fond family memories I have of sharing a meal with family and friends. The food that brings us to the table. My memories of holiday gatherings and the smell of fresh, cooked, or baked foods wafting through the house make me smile.

The women would often gather to bake holiday large quantities of treats or foods unique to a special day.

Sometimes, families would gather to eat as a crowd; other times, each took home enough to share with their family. But everyone looked forward to sitting down and sharing a meal. Sharing stories about our favorite foods can also bring smiles to faces. People will laugh as they recall reactions from those around the table. There are also times when the meal was considered a miss, and laughter also occurred at people’s reactions to looking for something else to eat. This especially occurs when baking. Sometimes, the baker is preoccupied and forgets an ingredient or uses too much or too little of something, and the whole batch ends up in the trash.

When you are sharing the end product, you just start over and pay attention to the task at hand.

a photo of people eating together and a man pouring someone wine | Image by freepik

Its Significance to People’s Lives

The biggest win from sharing a meal is that it fosters goodwill and hope as discussions occur around the table. The table is where we share our day. We ask children to share what happened at school and adults talk about what is happening at their jobs. Sometimes the discussion is serious to discuss an issue in someone’s life. Often dilemmas are resolved within a family setting as we consider the pros and cons of everyone’s suggestions. It is a time to gain other perspectives to overcoming the challenges in our lives. All while we also nourish our minds and bodies with healthy foods. Sharing a meal can often result in many positive benefits to our lives from just being together.

To that end, sharing a delivery pizza offers the same benefits as sharing a homecooked meal. It is the discussion and camaraderie that is important when we sit together to eat. Not only is it social time for those around the table, but it can also be an emotional time for the feelings of being together.

A simple gathering is no different than one designed to be elaborate serving many foods. The purpose is the same, to foster relations and contribute to the overall well-being of the people gathered together.

Today’s busy world does not always include sharing a meal.

People live in their own social and personal bubble. Rushing home to prepare dinner is not seen as a time of gathering. It is seen as just another chore, albeit sometimes unpleasant, on the list of things to do today.

Schedules are packed with activities and time to connect with others often occurs in snippets of time. The notion of taking time to connect and relax occurs in a restaurant or for a brief time while we are between scheduled activities. Sharing a meal is considered a luxury for the majority of families. Families hope to sit together at least one meal a week, and then it is a time for decompression rather than nurturing conversation.

On Why People Should Gather to Eat

In today’s world we sometimes lose the joy of being a family. We lose the opportunity to catch up with others and to share the meaningful time of just being together. I recognize, as someone who is retired, that the world for today’s working generation is hard. They are focused on making money to survive, allowing their children to participate in many activities, and trying to attend the bulk of the public events.

There is less focus on spending time together alone or with family. Even those times are scheduled and quick to end.

Will there come a time when we stop to think about what we missed by not sharing a meal? Will we recognize the irony of not fostering relationships or contributing to the overall well-being of all around the table? Will it be too late to wish we had known more about others who would be around the table? Or will we not think about the future because the present time is so packed with activities and demands that sharing meals becomes something other people do?

If you are interested in sharing meals and creating memories around the table, then grab a copy of Generations of Good Food. It is available on Amazon, online at Barnes and Nobles and on my website at www.onecaregiversjourney.com.

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