How Food Brings People Together

cookies and spices such as anise and cinnamon sticks on a white table

At the center of any family gathering, party, or event you will usually find food. Food can bring people together in a plethora of ways - cooking together, eating together, and learning about food together are surefire ways to bring you and your loved ones closer. Food is an essential part of everyone’s life, without food you can’t survive. Since the beginning of time food and meal time have been keeping families together like nothing else can.

an older woman showing a child how to prepare potatoes.
  1. Stay Connected  - You can stay connected with friends and family with food. When you go out for a meal, everyone can talk about their lives and how they are doing. Eating together will grant a space where you can talk about your ups and downs. How is their family doing? What’s going on with work? Any romances? Gossip? 

  2. Learning To Cook with a Parent or Grandparent or Loved one - An excellent way to spend time with family is learning how to cook with a family member. You can chat with them while you cook. They can tell you how they learned the dish or why it is important to them. Maybe it will lead them to recount stories from their childhood and why they loved it when their mom made the dish. 

  3. Celebration  - When you think about Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Birthdays, where does your mind go? Food. Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas Ham and Birthday Cake. A meaningful part of celebration is through food. We gather around a birthday cake and sing Happy Birthday. Someone ceremoniously carves the turkey, and during the meal we all say what we are thankful for. 

  4. Learning about Culture  - The most significant part of culture is food. Dishes have distinctive meanings. It could be special for weddings, birthdays, or holidays. A way to learn about a culture is through food, why people make it, what it means, and why is it special. Learning about your culture or someone else’s is made simple by trying food. 

  5. Provides Comfort - What is the best way to cheer someone up? Comfort food! Be it warm cookies or chicken noodle soup, people will feel better if they have something they love to eat. Don’t you always feel better when you have had a rough day and your mom comes into your room with your favorite dinner? Even eating something from your childhood will bring back happy memories. Such as eating a dish that you used to have with a loved one that has gone.

Birds eye view of a table with numerous plates of food and drinks.

Food brings people together as a way to stay connected, learn about a family member by cooking together, celebrate, learn about cultures, and provide comfort. People love food almost as much as they love each other, so together they bring happiness and joy to all.  Visit us at Julia Belle’s for all your seasoning needs and bring a new foodie tradition into the family!