I've been told that it is best to never eat alone.
I used to think this was so that if I started to choke on my food, someone would be there to help me out.
Although this is one good reason to never eat alone, there are countless others that make eating in the company of others worthwhile.
However, I've also been told to eat alone because only then, you have the assurance that you'll enjoy the company. But I'm not so sure that's always the case.
There are many days when we feel as if we've spent too much time with ourselves and the only anecdote is to get outside of ourselves by being surrounded by others.
A few years ago, I would have agreed with the latter statement about eating alone because time in solitude is often an introvert's biggest fantasy.
Nowadays, my answer seems to be different. After many meals spent alone on busy days or late nights, I've realized that sharing a meal in the company of others is becoming more of a lost art than anything else. Not to mention how cooking for one person can prove to be a difficult challenge that many of us share.
Biblically speaking, any meal shared with others is, in essence, a communion of sorts.
According to Google, communion is the "sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings." Essentially, having communion is an emotional or spiritual experience that elevates the senses and connects us to those who we are sharing the moment with.
After all, they say there's a reason that wine is originally served in a large bottle and not in single-serving glasses.... we are supposed to pour, drink and be merry.... with one another.
We were created for community and for connection.
Most of my fondest memories are with friends and family sitting around a table after a meal, with candles burning and the sound of Tom Petty and laughter mixing together and diffusing throughout the entire room.
There's such a warm feeling that accompanies us after the sun goes down and we've enjoyed an amazing meal in good company.
In fact, I've read once that there's a legitimate phenomenon associated with how food tastes better depending on where we are eating it and who we are eating it with. The same applies to drinks!
For example, say two blissfully swooning honeymooners share a bottle of wine on the coast of Santorini at sunset on a July evening. They then bring a bottle of this wine home to share with a friend and when they open it and taste it, they continually comment that "the wine is still good but we remember it tasting so much lighter and crisper that night in Santorini."
From my understanding, there's actually something to this psychological phenomenon. Food and drinks simply taste better and are better experienced when we are feeling a certain amount of joy and releasing a certain amount of serotonin as a result of our company or our surroundings.
Ultimately, we all eat meals in a given day so asking someone to join you for a meal shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience since they're most likely planning on doing so at some point anyway. If you're going to eat, you might as well do it in the company of others.
I've read studies that discuss how we lower our risk for heart disease, obesity, and various metabolic issues when we eat with one another.
Even if you aren't preparing a homemade meal or trying your hand at making ravioli for the first time and you're simply headed to heat up a hot pocket that you just realized was in the depths of your freezer, it just might taste slightly better if you share it in the company of a friend or loved one.
In the words of one of my favorite creative thinkers, Julia Child: "people who love to eat are always the best people."
I suppose that also means that the ultimate best thing would be eating with the people who love to eat.
Share a meal, share a laugh, even share that burnt pizza you forgot you were cooking. No matter what, share the moment and see how it feels to not eat alone.
