The Meaning of Meal Time

As a routine practice, a family meal may be used as a sign of united family life. It organizes the household, putting together family members on a daily basis and contributing to their physical , emotional and social well-being.

In order to understand the meaning of "family meals," it is important to first clarify what the term means. The phrase seems simple enough, but the notion of "family meal" is revealed as a descriptive term for an idea that might be more imaginative than real.

A classic approach that might come to mind is a happy family unit of mom , dad and kids sitting around a beautifully laid table enjoying the fruits of a highly important cooking process. This is certainly an image perpetuated, if not created, by mid-20th-century marketing and common TV and magazine culture. It has established itself as a cultural ideal, at some point.

It organizes the household, putting together family members on a daily basis and contributes to their physical , emotional and social well-being. It provides a daily harmonic progression and predictable structure that can be psychologically reassuring.

The presentation of a meal on the family table is the product of time-consuming and knowledgeable tasks requiring both intellectual decision-making and physical labor. The "decisive and performing" function, which refers to all actions taken to get a meal, from food preparation to shopping, preparing and serving, is mostly unseen and taken for granted.

The arrangement of a family meal is a visual demonstration of the care of the food provider. It might be all about affection or responsibility, but it also reflects dedication to the family community. By sharing food-related tasks, from shopping to food preparation, table-laying and clearing-up, all family members can participate in this activity of responsible family solidarity.

The dining table is an significant location for the socialization of adolescents. Family meal is the primary environment for their exposure to the regulations and practices of acceptable conduct and the principles and aspirations of the family. It teaches children and preschoolers what is considered socially appropriate food and, more fundamentally, what is deemed food and non-food.

By the exchanging of tales, observations and reports, children learn about the adult environment and the desires and attitudes of their peers, and adults learn about the concerns and attitudes of their children's community. At family mealtimes, parents know where their children are; they can assess their moods and desires, and they can find and help solve issues.

Eating together, whatever it might be, will help create and reinforce relations between family members. Perhaps instead of mourning the death of a family meal, we can look for ways to re-energize our relationship with food and thus with our families , friends and the broader community by eating together willingly.