Eating and Conversation

[rokdog49]

I am amazed at the number of people both male and female with whom I have shared a meal, talk more than they eat. When I sit down in front of food, I'm all business; the business of eating.
I find excessive conversation inhibits my ability to enjoy the task at hand.
Anybody else?

[RP]

As in most AGF threads, it really depends on the circumstances, the people, the occasion, etc. Eating with others can be more or less a social occasion, not just refilling the tank....

[Acousticado]

I’m certainly not all business when it comes to eating. I like balanced conversation while dining with others (everyone participating, not overly loud), but not to the extent where enjoyment of the meal is compromised, or with people who monopolize the room.

[mr. beaumont]

"Thank you for the conversational hiatus. I generally refrain from speech durin' gustation. I find it coarse and vulgar."

Big Dan Teague

[ManyMartinMan]

For me there are two distinct eating/dining experiences. One where I eat because I'm hungry and need to take a break from what I'm doing to eat. Even then I like to do it slowly with a glass of wine and have something healthy and eat slowly. The second is going out with family, friends, both or for business and enjoy the company, food, wine/drink, music, environment.... and the time to have an experience. Both result in consuming food but completely different experiences and time involvement.

[BahPa]

Gustation...................Great word, I'm adding it to my lexicon

[architype]

About once every 2 weeks I have lunch with one of my best friends. We've known each other for almost 40 years and we have always enjoyed each other's company.

We usually take an hour and a half lunch break, (this is always during the work week), and just talk about current events, what out kids are up to, what we are working on, vacations, he complains about his wife, I complain about my ex-wife, and on and on. The food is secondary to the company, although we never eat at a fast food joint.... it is usually a notch or 2 above that.

I can't stand rushing through a meal, or eating alone...even though I'm single.
I even have dinner with my daughter and ex-wife about once a week to keep up with everything that is happening. My daughter is 14 and plays volleyball and swims, so she has a busy schedule and she enjoys us eating together like a "normal" family and talking about everything that happened during the week.
Meals are a very important part of family life and also social life. Thanksgiving is an entire holiday devoted to sitting down and breaking bread together, giving thanks, and catching up on what is going on in each other's lives. The food is important, but more of a vehicle to bring us together.

[muscmp]

and, get off of my food!
eat alone, that solves that problem.

play music!

[gjd100]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

I am amazed at the number of people both male and female with whom I have shared a meal, talk more than they eat. When I sit down in front of food, I'm all business; the business of eating.
I find excessive conversation inhibits my ability to enjoy the task at hand.
Anybody else?

I hated going to breakfast with my Mother in law, god rest her soul. It was a 2 hour event. I was done in 20 minutes.

[Ozzy the dog]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

I am amazed at the number of people both male and female with whom I have shared a meal, talk more than they eat. When I sit down in front of food, I'm all business; the business of eating.
I find excessive conversation inhibits my ability to enjoy the task at hand.
Anybody else?

Not to worry, the art of eating and dining is about to become a thing of history as people are becoming more and more obsessed with texting or facebooking (or AGF ing) on their phones with people who are not even at the table.

[marty bradbury]

I love conversing while eating,face to face, just leave the cell phones off,

[Pitar]

Not a foody. I keep a balanced diet and make no more of it than I do passing it when done, with minor differences. I eat standing at a kitchen counter and start to finish with clean-up I might take 20 minutes. No involved hot meals with their prep and clean-up. My motivation is the evidence all around me of people my age who've opted for the always inspiring humpty-dumpty physiques from over indulgence.

[cotten]

If there is to be no conversation, I would just as soon eat alone. That is something that I would rather not do. I am a people person, and connecting over a meal is far more important than what is on my plate. In one extreme case, a friend and I enjoyed a meal so much that for over two hours neither of us ever touched our food. I married that girl! (Yes, we finally did eat, but still, the food was a distant second place priority.)

cotten

[Silly Moustache]

Dining, is a social thing. It is a time for my wife and I to sit and talk to each other, or was before I got sick. I loved cooking, and eating, and dining out, but now I eat (a little) because I have to.
When I worked at least one meal was scoffed in a rush - not good.

[Nyghthawk]

My mother, with whom I eat Saturday evening dinner, acts like it is a sprint. If the waiter takes more than a minute or two to take our drink order, "We must be invisible!" Said at just audible level. When the food arrives she eats the minimal portion she allows herself and then is ready for a to-go box and the check. She is 86 and beyond changing her ways. We live in a small town. We leave her house at 5 PM. We are generally back to her house by 5:50.

I like to eat more slowly and talk and have drinks. If it is just the wife and me we take an 1 1/2 hours to 2 depending on whether we get coffee and desert.