Thanksgiving isn’t just about what you eat, it’s who you’re with<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
I believe strongly that meals are about more than stuffing sustenance in your pie hole, but our on-the-go culture has made it increasingly rare to sit down to share a meal. Cody D. Delistraty <\/a>wrote in Sadly, Americans rarely eat together anymore. In fact, the average American eats one in every five meals in her car, one in four Americans eats at least one fast food meal every single day, and the majority of American families report eating a single meal together less than five days a week. <\/strong><\/p> …<\/p> In America, it seems snobbish to take time to eat good food with one\u2019s family. The Norman Rockwell portrait of the family around the dinner table now seems less middle-class and more haute bourgeois, as many families can\u2019t afford to have one parent stay home from work, spending his or her day cleaning and cooking a roast and side of potatoes for the spouse and kids. Most parents don\u2019t have time to cook, many don\u2019t even know how, and the idea that one should spend extra money and time picking up produce at the supermarket rather than grabbing a bucket of Chinese takeout can seem unfeasible, unnecessary, and slightly pretentious. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In “Sunday dinner: The family tradition we need to bring back,”<\/a> Ronnie Koenig wrote on NBCNews.com about committing to regular extended family gatherings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anne Fishel, Ph.D., a family therapist and co-founder of The Family Dinner Project, a nonprofit initiative that encourages families to connect over mealtime, tells me that there are numerous benefits of families eating together.<\/strong> \u201cThe benefits range from the cognitive ones (young kids having bigger vocabularies and older kids doing better in school) to the physical ones (better cardiovascular health, lower obesity rates and eating more vegetables and fruits) to psychological ones (lower rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse and fewer behavioral problems in school).\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n One thing I\u2019ve learned about this family dinner tradition is that it takes a little effort, but it\u2019s not insurmountable.<\/strong> We overcome the driving distance by taking turns who\u2019s house we go to \u2014 one Sunday it\u2019s Mediterranean by me, the next a BBQ by my sister. It doesn\u2019t take place every single Sunday, but I can now say that I see my mom several times a month, not once a month, and that\u2019s a huge difference. <\/p> Studies have shown that older adults thrive and actually live longer when they have consistent social interactions. For my kids, the real-life facetime provides an invaluable connection to the people in the world who care about them the most. And for me, making the opportunity to see family gives me footing, particularly since moving to a town where we didn\u2019t know anyone less than two years ago.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Koenig’s article includes practical pointers for making regular dinners work, including committing to it on your calendar, banning electronics at the table and making the menu easy enough to be realistic, so check it out<\/a> if you’d like some ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Importance of Eating Together”<\/a> in The Atlantic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/newvinegrowing\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Its-about-more-than-food.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMaking time for eating together<\/h4>\n\n\n\n