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The Power of Sharing a Meal

Sharing is caring!

A combination of bonding with people I don’t know very well over food and missing my own family dinners has renewed my belief in the power of sharing a meal.

Family DinnerThe Power of Sharing a Meal

Over the past few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to share a meal with someone. I serve on the Board of Trustees for my sons’ school, which is a meaningful opportunity to serve a community I love and value, but it also means a lot of dinners away from my family, as well as a lot of meals shared with others.

As I have been sitting down to these meals away from home, both with people I know quite well and with others I barely know at all, it has been wonderful to see how the food on the table brings us together—it lightens the mood, it shifts the dynamic, and it strengthens the bonds that we are building.

Feeding Family on Budget

The food also becomes a topic of conversation and leads to discovering shared experiences and interests. It is essential to the community building that we are doing.

At one of these dinners, a friend humorously recounted his childhood when he was the slowest eater in his family and everyone would have to sit and wait for him to be finished before they could move on to dessert. At another, a number of us discussed a shared love of Brussels sprouts. Both of these moments were full of joy and deepened friendships.

Jessica with Family

Missing Family Dinners

Ironically, at the same time, having all of these dinners away from my family has posed its own challenges.

My 8-year-old has commented numerous times that I have been away for dinner too much (and has also celebrated when the four of us get to sit down together).

It has required even more careful coordination between my husband and me over the weekly meal plan.

Kids watching ovenBut perhaps most unexpectedly, it has left me feeling sort of disjointed at the end of the day, when I return to the remnants of a missed family meal with a full belly of my own.

Missing those family dinners has made me realize what an anchor to my day they truly are. They aren’t only good for my kids, they are good for me, too.

Try The Scramble’s Family-Friendly Meal Plans. Healthy 30 minute meals so that you can share food with others.

These experiences have really reminded me of why I am so passionate about food and helping people to discover how accessible, simple, and meaningful cooking can be.

The connections that are built when sharing a meal, whether it is with your family or with others, are powerful. Food is not only meant to sustain and nourish us, but it is also meant to fulfill us. It is intended to be pleasurable and enjoyable and to offer social connection.

Sharing meals is a fundamental component to our physical and emotional well-being. So as we sit down for dinner, whether with family, friends, or colleagues, I hope that we are all able to savor not only the flavors on our palates, but also the connections that we are building.

Cut Dinner Efforts in Half with a Family Dinner Share!

Thursday 24th of September 2020

[…] there is one thing I am passionate about it is how food can bring people together. For me, sharing recipes and cooking tips is all in the interest of making cooking more accessible […]

Jessica H Green

Saturday 15th of February 2020

Thank you for this thoughtful piece, Jessica! Eating together is nourishing for body and soul.

Jessica Braider

Sunday 16th of February 2020

Thank you so much, Jessica! I'm glad you enjoyed it and couldn't agree more!

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