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Introduction: After treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC), up to 90% of patients have difficulties eating and drinking. Despite the enormity of challenges explicitly relating to the social dimension of eating, there are limited extant interventions to specifically support social eating, nor any replicable for use in contemporary clinical practice. This study aims to plan, develop and optimise a self-management intervention to promote social eating for patients living with and beyond HNC. Methods: This research was intervention development of a self-management ‘Eating with Others’ resource, guided by the person-based approach (PBA) framework. Initially, a systematic review was conducted, with 24 included studies exploring HNC patients’ social eating experiences, followed by thematically analysed qualitative interviews with patients (n = 14), family members (n = 12) and healthcare professionals (n = 13). Alongside this data, iterative input was sought from an advisory group (n = 22) to culminate in an intervention prototype. The intervention prototype was iteratively user-tested over three cycles for usability and acceptability, using think-aloud interviews (n = 10). Results: A patient-centred, evidence-based and theory-driven self-management resource, entitled ‘Eating with Others’, was designed to promote social eating for patients with HNC. Sections included the benefits of social eating; the impact of HNC on social eating, strategies and reflective activities to overcome social eating barriers; and the use of a social eating card for restaurants. The think-aloud interviews revealed that the resource was appropriate and acceptable for patients with HNC. Conclusion: The systematic and iterative PBA intervention development framework enabled empirical research findings, relevant theory and extensive advisory group involvement to design an acceptable self-management social eating intervention for patients living with and beyond HNC. Mixed-methods evaluation is required to determine feasibility in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social and human sciences have demonstrated again and again how commensality—the practice of eating together—has substantial implications, across time and place, for how social life is configured. Closely related phenomena have also been explored in biologically oriented sciences focused on human behavior. Yet, there is still little dialogue between these and the mainstream social science analysis of food and eating, despite their shared interests in the role played by food and eating in the organization of social life. The paper strengthens this dialogue and proposes that eating together be analyzed as a social tool: an innovation for the organization of complex behavior. More precisely, the proposition is that the habitual, routinized, and ritualized communal eating we see today developed into a social tool for exercising a diverse set of biologically evolved social traits. Through in‐depth analyses of food sharing, meal sharing, and feasting, I propose three distinct propositions of commensality as a social tool: social coordination of needs (mainly nutritional); social order and complex interaction (primarily conversations); and the symbolic display of stratified social relations. Understanding communal eating as a social tool thus opens up for a unified theory to explain seemingly disparate social phenomena, such as the underlying sociality displayed through different meal arrangements. For a thorough understanding of this, intensified conversations across the borders of scientific paradigms are required. Commensality is a social tool that satisfies both the social and biological appetites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article explores the intricate connections between territorial degradation, bodily health, and the phenomenon of quebranto among the Tupinambá people of Lower Tapajós, Brazil. The Tupinambá attribute various health issues, physical debilitation, and diminished longevity to the consumption of urban-sourced foods, a pattern that correlates with the ongoing destruction of their ancestral lands. Since the mid-1950s, the encroachment of logging operations has progressively devastated Tupinambá territory, leading to an increasing dependence on external resources. The deterioration of the land is perceived as directly linked to the decline in human health; as the territory becomes “sick”, so too do its inhabitants. I engage with Tupinambá perspectives to analyze the impacts of territorial destruction on bodily vitality, particularly through the lens of quebranto, understood here as a form of corporeal malaise and a disruption in the commensal relationships that underpin kinship bonds - among people as well as between people and the land.

Food studies is rapidly gaining ground as a multidisciplinary area of research. Within it, literary food studies brings an interdisciplinary perspective as works of literature are viewed through the lens of food that is informed by frameworks and concepts that are rooted in a variety of fields including cultural anthropology, sociology, and more. ne such concept that is in focus here is that of commensality that is associated with food and food practices. Commensality, drawing from notions of conviviality, refers to the practice of sharing a table and consuming food together. Deeper meanings of communal identities come to the fore in this social practice, leading it to shape how identities are understood and projected. Commensality can be a complex site of belonging and alienation depending on the context, and this paper seeks to explore the representation of the same in Anne Cherian’s A Good Indian Wife (2008). Leila, the titular Indian wife in the novel, moves to the US from India after her marriage to Neel and grapples with finding her place in the foreign land. With this displacement comes the endeavor to reaffirm her new identity, which now includes the role of being a wife and the aspect of being an immigrant. Neel also deals with complicated feelings towards the projection of his identity. With food playing a crucial role in the everyday experiences of their lives, commensality becomes a point of enquiry into how they see themselves and how their relationships with each other and themselves evolve through the course of the narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In her novel The Saint of Incipient Insanities (2004), Elif Shafak explores the theme of alienation by portraying a group of individuals who live in the U.S. and struggle to adapt to the American lifestyle. This article focuses on Alegre, a Mexican-American girl with bulimia. Surrounded by her Chicana aunts and foreign friends, Alegre is forced to adopt American culture, yet she is also asked not to sever her ties with her Mexican roots. I argue that Alegre's relationship with food mirrors her connection to the American and Mexican cultures: by gorging and disgorging herself with food, she challenges the frontiers that separate cultural identities and the borders that divide the inside and the outside of the self. Alegre considers the kitchen her native soil as it provides her with the space to challenge the boundaries of her own body and identity. The food she cooks there brings different identities together over one meal, where they realise they have much more in common than they expected. Thus, she creates an environment for others to find a chance to question the boundaries that restrict their identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the often-neglected features of healthy diets, such as the Mediterranean diet, is the preparation and sharing of food, which is (or was) done in a social environment governed by social rules rather than by time constraints. The act of eating is a daily human practice that is not limited to meeting nutritional and energy needs but also involves a constructed social dimension of sharing meals that is part of the process of human civilization and food cultures around the world. In this narrative review, we outline the importance of conviviality in steering part of the health effects of healthful diets, with special reference to the Mediterranean diet. Based on the available evidence, we suggest that public health initiatives (such as nudging to promote conviviality) to improve people's eating and living styles, reduce loneliness, and promote the sharing of meals could improve health. Interventions aimed at directly increasing/improving people's social relationships, networking, and conviviality can—directly and indirectly—improve both psychological well-being and general health. Schematic representation of conviviality and its various health-promoting activities. Because modern society is increasingly characterized by social isolation and loneliness, research should focus less on parametric factors that contribute to health, such as sociability and social interactions. Public health interventions aimed at improving people's social relationships, networking, and sociability can improve both mental well-being and overall health. [Display omitted] • An often neglected feature of a healthy diet is the preparation and sharing of meals. • Conviviality can be distinguished from commensality. • Conviviality is the quality of being friendly and lively. • Commensality is the practice of eating together. • Conviviality is a mediator of health benefits. • The release of neurochemicals, such as oxytocin and endorphins, might explain such benefits. • We call for public health initiatives to promote the sharing of meals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating has always played a central role in people’s lives, serving as an important symbol of togetherness and community- building for thousands of years. In many cultures and religious traditions, communal eating or commensality holds significant importance and is often surrounded by ritual symbolism. These rituals and customs serve various purposes, ranging from expressions of togetherness to honouring gods or declaring peaceful intentions. Theatre performance, like eating, is a communal event. Throughout different historical periods, these two forms of communal existence often intertwined more closely than we experience today: from the ceremonies of the Bacchanalia and Dionysia in ancient Greek and Roman culture, to Elizabethan theatrical traditions, Renaissance and Baroque banquets, and modern experimental culinary and olfactory theatre. As theatre is an art form rooted in ritual and religion, theatrical performance operates with the same tools and mechanisms as ceremonies. The article illustrates the mentioned aspects through the impact mechanism of the performance Celebration – based on the movie Festen by Thomas Vinterberg –, presented at the Hungarian State Theatre of Cluj in 2011, under the direction of Robert Woodruff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commensality with close friends and acquaintances increases opportunities for social connectedness, creates a sense of belonging, and may reduce the risks of isolation among students. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown disrupted daily routines and relationships. This put an increased number of university students at risk of emotional and social loneliness. Little research has focused on commensal eating practices and loneliness among university students before or during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK or elsewhere. This study explored these themes using one-to-one interviews with 13 undergraduate and postgraduate students at a university in England. A hybrid approach to thematic analysis of deductive and inductive reasoning was adopted which is data-driven but informed a priori by the research questions. Emergent findings include (1) pre-COVID-19 eating practices: meal-skipping, varying lunch-time rituals, and dinner as the most important meal regarding content and commensality; (2) Eating practices during COVID-19 lockdown: healthier eating patterns, limited opportunities for commensality, increased feelings of loneliness, and increased reliance on digital media. The COVID-19 lockdown was an opportunity for students to transform erratic eating into more regular eating practices and patterns and to cook more homemade meals. Many students were alone during dinner time and expressed increased feelings of loneliness leading to increased reliance on digital media and virtual commensality to socially interact with close family and friends whilst enjoying the meal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how a particular cultural product (cuisine) from a demographically minority ethnic group is transformed within a multicultural social setting. The expanding process of commodification and the development of the urban culinary industry, supported by innovations in digital technology and media, provide opportunities for ethnic cuisines to compete with other culinary traditions in the market. This research aims to determine how the cultural identity embedded in specific cuisines (seruit) is established in the market, and how the intrinsic value of its culinary traditions is transformed in multiethnic societies. The theory used is food culture and food habits (Foster and Anderson 1978; Jerome, Kandel, and Pelto 1980). This study used qualitative research methods with ethnographic approach. Data was collected through interviews, observations, and the author's participant observation as a citizen of the city under study. The study found that togetherness is an instrinsic value of Lampung's seruit commensality that is adaptive amidst socio-cultural transformation into a multicultural society. Sharing meals (seruit commensality) can promote harmony among in Lampung multiethnic urban society. The representation of seruit in digital media becomes an arena for constructing Lampungnese within multiethnic urban society and growing commercial economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tartiflette has become an emblematic dish of the French Alps and the atmosphere of winter sports. Few realize that this hearty concoction of melted Reblochon cheese, potatoes and bacon is an invention of the 1980s, with dubious creation stories still contested in recipe books and magazines, and behind the scenes on its Wikipedia page. In this paper it is argued that the precise origin of tartiflette is less important than the aptness of its invention, the connections with tradition that are made for it, and the place it enjoys within the widely-held atmospheric imaginary of winter sports tourism. A runaway success story which has changed the face of the Reblochon cheese on which it is built, tartiflette appears today every bit as authentic an Alpine experience as downhill skiing itself. But by analyzing English and French language archival materials, and drawing upon ideas in cultural geography, anthropology and history, it is demonstrated that behind its authenticity lies a compelling story of re-invention that is inescapably part of the cultural expression of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article discusses how museums can disseminate the cultural history of food by cooking, tasting, and sharing meals. The article builds on vast data from a food culture project (SPIS Ma/eD) conducted in Lolland-Falster, the southeastern part of Denmark, between 2020 and 2023. The analysis centres on three key findings: the social aspect of sharing experiences and meals, the dialogical dissemination of cultural food history, and sensory engagement through cooking and tasting. The article concludes that cooking and dining together with other museum visitors enriches the museum experience and transforms it into a highly sensory and social event that links history to the present everyday life of the participants. The SPIS Ma/eD project also demonstrates the value of integrating food culture into the communication and dissemination practices of museums. This integrated approach to the local community, educational institutions, and innovative events has created a model that may inspire other museums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista Maracanan is the property of Revista Maracanan and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Dinner patterns have been changing in Israel in recent decades. While the evening meal is still commonly associated with a specific model comprised of bread, cheese, eggs, and fresh vegetables, the culinary reality is more diverse. In this study, we examine the fate of this "national" model in a period of culinary transformations, based on interviews with upper-middle-class mothers of young children and on an online survey. While the association of dinner with the "classic" model is still prevalent, in practice its dominance has declined, giving way to new dinner models—primarily the "cooked dinner," which requires more investment of time and effort. At the same time, the "classic dinner" is still one of the dominant dinner models. We argue, that the current status of the "classic dinner" results from the tension between the growing social and nutritional importance of dinner and its functioning as a token of the mothers' love and care on the one hand, and life circumstances that leave little time for preparing dinner, on the other hand. This model, which is no longer considered sufficient as a family dinner, nevertheless constitutes a socially legitimate option for a "good enough dinner." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food sharing is central to the human experience, serving biological and sociocultural functions. Historically, food sharing has allowed people to manage food shortages, creating positive interdependence among those who pool calories and other sources of risk. However, sharing food may lead to negative outcomes when food is scarce, or when there is a threat of disease. We found that sharing food (compared with sharing pencils) led to reduced cooperation with an experiment partner (Study 1) and that perceived scarcity partially mediated a negative association between zero‐sum orientation and perceived interdependence with people involved in a recently shared meal (Studies 2–3). Disgust was also associated with lower perceived interdependence toward people involved in a shared meal (Study 3; NTotal = 1126). Our results suggest that scarcity and disgust can interfere with the positive feelings people might otherwise experience when eating together, warning against lay beliefs that 'breaking bread' necessarily brings people together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relational models theory provides an alternative framework to study group and intergroup processes. One of four models people use to constitute groups is communal sharing (CS). Ethnographic and experimental evidence suggests that CS is produced by concrete and symbolic enactments of connections between bodies (cuddling, touching, synchronicity, commensality). We tested the effect of commensality on CS and ingroup favouritism in four Experiments with 3‐person groups (total n = 330) and found that commensality enhances emergent group communal sharing but does not enhance ingroup favouritism. In Experiment 1, sharing food enhanced ingroup communal sharing but in Experiment 2 this effect was not significant. In Experiments 3 and 4, sharing water enhanced communal sharing, but only when served from the same bottle, implying consubstantial assimilation. Ingroup favouritism was not enhanced by commensality in any experiment, even when explicitly presented as exclusively ingroup (Experiment 2), suggesting non‐comparative group formation through ingroup commensality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many refugees from Syria resettled in Denmark experience poor health, lack of social support, and loneliness. The refugee families’ complex social situation led to the development of a social and health-promoting project comprising a series of interventions. Purpose: The present intervention aimed to improve the families’ collaboration and empowerment through jointly developing a community garden using participatory action research. Findings suggest that gardening and cooking together created a community, enhancing social capital, wellbeing, and a sense of belonging. The participants developed language skills and empowerment through mutual interaction, recognition, and collaboration with the project team and the garden's Danish neighbours. Collaboration between municipality and the educational institution was beneficial for the integration program, the refugees, and the students.

In 1665, Thomas Sprat's efforts to defend the hospitality bestowed on Samuel Sorbière, when the French savant visited London, were published in his Letter containing some observations on Monsieur de Sorbier's voyage into England. This book, for which Sprat stopped work on his now more famous History of the Royal-Society, challenged Sorbière's account of how he had been 'entertained', insisting he 'be grateful for a good potage' and 'sound up his meat'. Experiments were, it seems, not to be depicted growing from nothing. This article thus situates Sprat's Letter amid convictions that the table was an apparently indispensable piece of experimental furniture. From the lavish banquets over which experiments were discussed, to feasts that were themselves experiments, it explores a learning seemingly nourished in rich settings of appetite and gratification. The offence caused by Sorbière's failure to acknowledge this commensality is placed in a context where, for better or worse, the character of experiment was on the table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food in literary production signifies the cultural and cross-cultural relations from which it is produced. The emergence of Literary Food Studies engages food as a signifier to magnify human relations and emotions. Food is a mosaic system of signs symbolising diasporic, class, caste, racial, and gender relations. The paper focuses on commensality, one of the mushrooming trends in literary food studies. Commensality is the act of eating together that helps to build relationships and create conviviality, the social pleasure among people. It helps to reinforce the identity and sense of belongingness among the community members. Drawing on the theoretical readings from Mary Douglas and Arjun Appadurai's semiotics of food, the paper explores the possibilities of commensality in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The paper tries to argue that, commensality and its food practices along with representing togetherness could also symbolise the complex cultural functioning of the Igbo tribal community. The ingredients of the commensality, the culinary tools, and the order of eating convey cultural meanings. It throws light into the hierarchy and various power relations existing in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food is a social and cultural symbol and seems to have a long history in anthropology and sociology. Commensality, or the act of eating together, seems to have social effects in creating or consolidating a group. This study examined why workers in the cleaning industry choose to eat together and how this habit is related to high job satisfaction. Factors that seem to promote relationships within the group and subjective well-being appear to be influenced by the need for socialization during work breaks. The main conclusion of the study is that shared meal breaks, which involve eating together (not from separate plates), make cleaning employees feel more socially connected and increase cooperation among them. The research aims to highlight the meals organized by cleaning workers. The goal of understanding how cleaning agents experience and attribute meaning to these moments of eating together is an important part of understanding their activity in the social context of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A category of symptoms that became characteristic early in the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic was chemosensory dysfunctions (alterations of smell and taste). Such symptoms substantially affect food and eating—cornerstones for both nutrition‐related health outcomes and for quality of life. Based on this, this scoping review aimed to map out existing scientific literature on food‐related experiences and related behavioral responses among people affected by chemosensory dysfunctions following COVID‐19. A librarian‐supported search of PsycInfo, PubMed, and Scopus for publications written in English (2020 to April 26, 2022) was conducted. Two authors searched for and screened publications and three others extracted and collated data. These are reported following the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic reviews and Meta‐Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Of 1169 hits, 9 publications were included in the review. The results are thematized as "Psychological and social aspects" and "Nutritional aspects," each with the subsections "Experiences" and "Behavioral responses." A great variety of food‐related problems, nutritional and mental health effects, and implications for social life are identified. People affected by chemosensory dysfunctions following COVID‐19 suffer, as evident both in stories from qualitative studies and in measurements of quality of life. The results impact all professions who are and may come to be involved in treating these patients, such as nurses, physicians, dietitians, and psychologists. With more knowledge about the dysfunctions' manifestation, duration, and impact on everyday life, multiprofessional teams need to collaborate in supporting patients medically, psychosocially, and nutritionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an increasingly connected and globalized world, tourist itineraries before, during and after travel have evolved towards new ways of experiencing and communicating with local people. In this context, spaces for encounters around food between travelers and locals have arisen, in part thanks to developments in collaborative economy and technological advances. Using an ethnographic approach based on the theoretical framework of the sociology of the eater, we have identified four communicative paths about food, showing how each local host, through his or her initiative and creativity, manages to communicate his or her own vision of authenticity. By diverting and reconciling ordinary local life with their vision of cultural authenticity and exclusivity, guests are able to create a new discourse on commensality, food relations and their identity as travelers.

This article explores the intersection of synodality and sisterhood in women's religious life, highlighting the importance of recognizing women's distinct experiences and perspectives. The reflection is based on the understanding that historical modes of interpretation still permeate the collective unconscious, hindering the legitimacy of women's specific experiences. Addressing the need to broaden horizons in the search for meaning in life, the text highlights synodality as an opportunity to invest in the present, aligning with the call to communion and discernment. Each person in this project with their leaders is challenged to be a bearer of hope, revealing “faces of light” on the path to be followed in synodality. It is questioned whether synodality will include sisterhood, arguing that language and attitudes must reflect an essential change in thinking, promoting an inclusive semantics. The importance of sorority as the feminine of fraternity stands out, demanding a distinct understanding of the female experience. The article highlights the need to rediscover and value the Church as an "inclusive home", emphasizing the importance of sharing and mutual recognition. The author proposes a path to return to authenticity and simplicity, moving away from clerical and patriarchal structures. Furthermore, the text explores the idea of “living at home without feeling at home”, citing Pope Francis, and highlights the importance of commensality as a fundamental element in building authentic communities. The summary concludes by highlighting the need to embrace vulnerability, recognizing that transformation and true happiness arise from authenticity and mutual acceptance. Sisterhood in synodality is presented as a profound dimension in mutual learning, promoting equal dignity between men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-conflict situation is a phase that occurs after the signing of the peace agreement. However, it cannot be assumed as the end of the conflict and the beginning of a peaceful situation because post-conflict is very fragile. The war may have ended, but small conflicts in large numbers, are still possible, and if not dealt with immediately, the situation can relapse into war. This is where the importance of intercultural dialogue is to ensure durable peace. One of the instruments of intercultural dialogue is commensality. This article then examines a form of commensality in the city of Ambon, Indonesia, as an instrument for building peace after the violent conflict of 1999-2002. The results of this study indicate that the commensality of makan patita traditions has supported the creation of space and place for intercultural dialogue. Space is a material form. The commensality tradition in Ambon which is carried out in cities or public spaces, allowing participants to gather and dialogue, while Place is more of values and meanings provided by the implementation of this tradition, such as the meaning of togetherness, and peace. and unity.

For centuries, the preparation and eating of a meal has brought people together, making food consumption an inherently social process. Yet the way in which people connect over food is changing. Rising health concerns, due in part to the increase in food allergies and obesity, have shifted attention away from the social aspects of food to food's nutritional aspects. Recognizing the social context in which food consumption takes place, this article reviews research highlighting the interpersonal consequences of joint food consumption. We first examine research on how sharing food connects people together, both via the type of food consumed (e.g., incidental food similarity) and the manner in which people serve and eat food (e.g., from shared vs. separate plates). We then turn to research that addresses the opposite side of the coin, discussing how the inability to share in a meal can be isolating, as well as how people navigate conflicting preferences when making food decisions with others. We conclude with a discussion of promising future directions for research on joint food consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mealtimes shared with other people define how, what, how much, and with whom we eat. On such occasions, whether in private or public spaces, and as formal or informal events, our eating practices are inseparable from our interactions with other people. In this Editorial for the Special Issue on Interactional approaches to eating together and shared mealtimes , we provide an overview of the interdisciplinary field of research on eating together and shared mealtimes to illustrate the breadth and depth of work that has been developed in this area to date. The overview is divided into three broad clusters of research that focus primarily on (1) cultural or societal aspects, (2) individual outcomes, or (3) interactional practices. Commonalities across these clusters are discussed, the need for more research across a greater global and cultural diversity of eating practices is highlighted, and the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration on research on eating together and shared mealtimes across diverse scientific disciplines is explored. The papers in this Special Issue showcase a sample of contemporary work from within the cluster of research on interactional practices, and a brief overview of these papers is discussed. Finally, it is argued that as a common area of interest, social interaction as the foundation of eating practices within shared mealtimes poses considerable potential for interdisciplinary collaboration across scientific disciplines, and between scientists, professionals, and participants from the study populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The practice of eating together, commensality, is rarely explored in the context of childhood obesity treatment. This is noteworthy given long-standing debates about the physical, psychosocial, and societal benefits of meals, especially family meals. Moreover, as children with obesity experience weight bias and stigma both within and outside the home, it is important to examine meals as a locus of social exchange around food and the body. Our study is based on the premises that eating together (i) matters and (ii) occurs in different environments with diverse social organization, where food-related interactions create varying arrangements of individuals, groups, their statuses, and their actions. Method The study explores children’s experiences of meals in different social contexts. Thirty-two children (age 8–10 years) living in Sweden were interviewed, 4 years after they entered an obesity intervention trial. Thematic analysis was applied to the data. Results We thematized three meal types, with each meal type having two subthemes: (i) “The family meal”, with “Shared routines, rituals, and rules” and “Individual solutions and choices”; (ii) “The school meal”, with “Rules and norms of the school” and “Strategies of the child”; and (iii) “The friend meal”, with “Handling food that was disliked” and “Enjoyment of food”. These three different meal types carried different experiences of and knowledge about how they were socially organized. Conclusions While the children spoke about the family and school meals as meaningful, the friend meal stood out as particularly positive. Contrary to our expectations, the children did not express experiences of weight bias or obesity stigma around meals, nor did they speak negatively about parental control of their food intake. Our findings, especially regarding the friend meal, have implications for further research into commensality and social influences on eating among children with obesity, from early childhood into adolescence.

Though eating with others is often a social behavior, relationships between social contexts of eating and nutrient intake have been underexplored. This study evaluates how social aspects of eating - frequencies of eating meals with others, meals prepared at home, and meals outside the home - are associated with nutrient intake. Because diet improvement can reduce complications of diabetes mellitus, we surveyed a multi-ethnic cohort of persons with type 2 diabetes (n = 770) about social aspects of diet (based on 24-hour recalls). Sex-stratified multiple regression analyses adjusted for confounders assessed the relationship between frequency of eating with others and nutrient intake (total energy, energy from fat, energy from carbohydrates, Healthy Eating Index/HEI, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension/DASH score). Although there was slight variation in men's versus women's propensity to share meals, after adjustment for confounders, there was no consistently significant association between meals with others and the 5 nutrient intake measures for either men or women. The directions of association between categories of eating with others and diet quality (HEI and DASH scores) - albeit not significant - were different for men (positive) and women (mostly negative), which warrants further investigation. The next analyses estimated nutrient intake associated with meals prepared at home, and meals consumed outside the home. Analyses indicated that greater meal frequency at home was associated with significantly better scores on diet quality indices for men (but not women), while meal frequency outside the home was associated with poorer diet quality and energy intake for women (but not men). Better measurement of social dimensions of eating may inform ways to improve nutrition, especially for persons with diabetes for whom diet improvement can result in better disease outcomes.

Some sacrifices are cosmogonic acts. Along with (re)creating the world, they create male social bonds by ritually appropriating and transcending women's corporeal reproductive powers. Departing from these androcentric representations, this paper considers when, why and how (differently) women sacrifice. I compare an exclusively female domestic worship to the mother/midwife goddess Periyacci in Singapore from which men are forbidden with a male-centric sacrifice to tutelary deities by a patrilineage in rural Tamil Nadu, India. Focusing on women as active ritual sponsors and sacrificers, rather than as is usual, ritually prohibited and symbolically denigrated objects, I scrutinise sacrifice's avowed theological, ritual and ethical claims regarding reproduction. Women's native fertility, customarily denigrated to counterintuitively locate reproduction in the sacrificial covenant between men and their tutelaries, is centred in Periyacci's worship. Dwelling on the body and its frailties, failures and infertility, women-led sacrifice demonstrates that life is only possible through women. Women's actual sacrifice of their own bodies and labours to organically generate and nurture life negates the need for the dramatic symbolic sacrifice of animal surrogates. Entangling body and mind, sacrifice and subsistence, ritual and the routine, Periyacci's worship offers alternative ways of thinking about sacrifice and its creative imperatives. Sacrifice need not be spectacular event but can also be an everyday sacrament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quorum Sensing is a gastrosonic experience for three guests. A soup is served in a glass tableware (Emotional Tableware) designed as a result from a research project on associations of shapes and materials with musical emotions. The actions of each diner produce vibrations applied to the body of the others. The conceptual framework of Quorum Sensing and Emotional Tableware is multiple: relating human experience with that of other species, tactilely increasing the sense of presence in commensality, a multisensory and crossmodal approach to object design and a reflection on the use of cell phones and tablets at the table. In the future, the experience may function as an experimental device to investigate these aspects as well as the impact of vibrations on the perception of food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the significance and importance of gastronomy, food preparation, raw material, commensality in the heterotopian public spaces of restaurants, for the accuracy and diversity of American correspondents reports of their journeys in a war thorn Europe, Romania included. Food and commensality occupied an important place in the American correspondents' descriptions of the restaurants where they met and shared delicious meals mostly before war divided society and made cohabitation impossible. With the progress of war, menus and culinary tastes lost their role in the cohesion of the people sharing flavored dishes. Tastes, memories and history were intertwined in lively heterotopias. Society lost its peaceful homogeneity, and people sitting at restaurant tables were divided ethnically, politically, economically and professionally. Instead of tasting and enjoying food, the war correspondents paid attention to external intercourses between the restaurant clientele. They turned to the materiality and political aspects of sharing the same place, while the aesthetic value of gastronomy lost its importance. Covetous politicians, officers, businessmen or diplomats replaced the bon vivant and the gourmands. This turn of attitude toward gastronomic art was very closely reflected in Bucharest's elegant restaurants like the Athenée Palace dining room, as well as in Cina's or Capșa's. The study focuses on interwar Bucharest's exclusive restaurants, frequented not only by foreign officials and journalists, but also by the Romanian high society, politicians, diplomats, officers or decaying aristocrats. Generally, they were go-getters, who wanted to identify the most profitable political tendencies and afforded these fancy public spaces. The study thus highlights the importance of Romanian-American identity and cultural negotiations, which took place instead of temporary conflicting interactions between different ethnic, cultural, political and military categories of the European society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family meals are a familiar concept and are practised in many Western households. While academics have been researching family meals for decades, there is much about the family meal we still do not understand. Meanwhile, the promotion of an 'ideal' of family meals across media, health and social discourse ensues. An extensive pool of research has indicated cross-sectional associations between the frequency of family meals and optimal health outcomes. However, evidence surrounding what specifically it is about the family meal that could offer health benefits is limited. Furthermore, family meals carry a level of moral value, evoking pressure for parents to 'achieve' a family meal ideal, unattainable for many. Family meals research has traditionally focussed on mothers' perceptions and roles in family mealtimes. While literature is starting to emerge on the often-overlooked cognitive contribution required to plan and execute family meals, little structural supports exist to streamline these efforts or make them more achievable for contemporary families. The published literature is only starting to include cultural and demographic diversity, making it difficult to understand and promote realistic and feasible family meals across populations. The popular depiction of family meals needs to evolve alongside changes in social norms. Our call to action to address these issues is to draw on existing family meal practices, continue to diversify our investigations, and broaden our definitions and understandings of what a family meal is or could be, and how it should be measured., (© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Purpose: Family members (FMs) of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) report a change in their social eating experience. They miss out on the opportunities and benefits that eating with others provides. However, few studies investigate FM's social eating experiences, with existing research primarily focusing on the patient experience. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the social eating experiences of FMs of patients who have had treatment for HNC. Methods: A qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews was used to understand FM's social eating experiences. Key themes were inductively developed from the data using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: Twelve interviews were conducted with FMs, and three key themes were identified: (1) changes and challenges experienced by FMs due to HNC patients' social eating difficulties, (2) living with social eating changes is a balancing act, and (3) FMs' efforts to promote social eating for a patient with HNC. FMs expressed significant changes to their social eating habits within and outside the home, indicating the need for support to meet their own emotional, psychological and social needs. Conclusion: FMs experience many demands and tensions, having to balance the psychological impact they experience, which are often minimised, whilst attempting to find the best ways to support, protect and encourage their loved ones to adjust and adapt to social eating changes. Therefore, interventions need to support FMs' challenges and equip them to know how to best support patients living with HNC and themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carceral institutions are not only places of oppression and domination but also sites of negotiation, compromise, and resistance. Everyday practices like eating are part of this picture. Institutional power extends to and manifests in the food that prisoners eat. Equally, meals can be a locus of everyday resistance, where prisoners assert autonomy and symbolically circumvent the institution's control over their bodies. Drawing on more than 70 interviews with visitors to Australian immigration detention facilities, this article adds to this discussion of prison fare by exploring how visitor–detainee commensality shapes institutional dynamics of power and resistance. It shows that visitor–detainee meals have the potential to disrupt the carceral machine by affording detainees access to psychological nourishment and escape. Equally, it argues that the realization of this potential depends on detainees and their visitors building relationships that challenge, rather than reproduce, orthodox hierarchies between 'hosts' and 'guests', caregivers and care receivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taste and smell are of direct importance in most social interactions. Radical disruptions in these senses can, therefore, substantially disrupt sociality. This paper focuses on the experiences of a particular type of disruption: persistent chemosensory dysfunctions after COVID-19. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 patients undergoing treatment for chemosensory dysfunctions and analyzed the ways in which their experiences have influenced social relations and activities, particularly regarding food and eating. The findings reveal that these dysfunctions have made the participants markedly aware that food and eating are pivotal to full participation in social life. As is smell, both surrounding smells and the perception of one’s own smell, with dysfunctions leading to several social consequences. Such problems are handled through both avoidance behavior and adaptations. While adaptations facilitate interactions, they come at the cost of feeling a burden to others or not fully appreciating an event (e.g., a shared meal). Social support is of great importance, ranging from minor practical assistance, such as a friend checking if the milk is sour, to the profound emotional relief felt from empathic treatment and recognition that the problems are real. Here, healthcare professionals can play a vital role, even in the (perceived) absence of clinical effectiveness of the treatment. The experiences expressed are partially in line with other manifestations of Long COVID and with chemosensory dysfunctions due to other illnesses, but only partially, since this is a patient group with needs and experiences that are unique, in that sociality is so strongly affected solely by disruptions in sensory abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating is a fundamental part of human life and is, more than anything, a social activity. A new field, known as Computational Commensality has been created to computationally address various social aspects of food and eating. This paper illustrates a study on remote dining we conducted online in May 2021. To better understand this phenomenon, known as Digital Commensality, we recorded 11 pairs of friends sharing a meal online through a videoconferencing app. In the videos, participants consume a plate of pasta while chatting with a friend or a family member. After the remote dinner, participants were asked to fill in the Digital Commensality questionnaire, a validated questionnaire assessing the eects of remote commensal experiences, and provide their opinions on the shortcomings of currently available technologies. Besides presenting the study, the paper introduces the first Digital Commensality Data-set, containing videos, facial landmarks, quantitative and qualitative responses. After surveying multimodal data-sets and corpora that we could exploit to understand commensal behavior, we comment on the feasibility of using remote meals as a source to build data-sets to investigate commensal behavior. Finally, we explore possible future research directions emerging from our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]