Dining Tables Bring People Together

Dining tables are there to bring people together. Imagine your child running in and asking what's for dinner? Or perhaps your partner strolling in after a hard day at work, relieved to be taking a break once more from the rat race, a hopeful look in his or her eye and asking what's for dinner? Perhaps your neighbour pops her head over the fence and asks 'what's for dinner'? While the responses may vary from 'something delicious' to 'get back on your side of the fence, weirdo!' there is one element that never changes. Dining tables are the symbols and centrepieces of the one time of day where your entire family can sit together and spend quality time with one another.

In today's busy world with traffic congestion, longer commute times, more stressful day to day routines, teenage angst and apparent anti-socialism... dining tables facilitate an experience where everybody can just stop, reset, forget about the world and enjoy a good meal with loved ones. Everything is left at the door and you can converse on the day's events, make plans for the weekend or just vent and finally, relax.

Of course it would be naive of me to claim that all family gathering around the dinner table are so idyllic. Occasionally one of the younger members of the family will still be moody about... anything. Of course then follows gentle poking and prodding to bring about a reaction (usually laughter, occasionally tears but live and learn!). Other times, the meal itself may be not to everyone's taste; overcooking, undercooking or an exotic experiment that explores ambiguous foods from far away cultures. Uncomfortable silence comes into play in this instance and the first review of the dinner is sure to bring about a reaction... again, generally laughter or tears, depending on whether it's the husbands, wives or eight year olds at the various dining tables around the globe who make the first sound (or face).

But again there are moments of joy; when the son finally learns quadratic equations with the help of old dad; when the lovers recount their shared undying love for each other; when the dog leaps up on the table to take the last of the pork crackling. Some memories will undoubtedly be fonder than others but the message remains that dining tables are central to it all. It's an age old phrase now 'gathered around the dining table'. It is a phrase that relates to the closeness and togetherness that's all too rare in today's world and I for one believe that this should be cherished, even if every meal isn't a success and every conversation isn't the most pleasant.

So whether you're sitting together around the dining table one evening playing cards with a brandy and wine (hopefully not in the same pair of hands but that's certainly not a judgement!), or you've just cleared out the garage and need somewhere to put all the junk, remember that that moment wouldn't exist at all if it wasn't for the prestigious and time honoured dining tables.