Eating is a social deal in every culture (as is smoking, doing edibles, or partaking in any other consumable, generally). It might even be an instinctive thing. I know when my wife isn’t around (often due to business) I’ll just make something simple for myself (like the stereotypical can of tuna) and when she doesn’t want to eat (migraines, etc.) then I feel disappointed that I won’t be making dinner for us.
Curiously, when it comes to dessert, I am a little sad if we don’t eat it together, if say, there’s pie and she had her slice while I was dogwalking or something.
And I say this as someone who’s eaten alone for most of my life. My usual thing was just to make myself one of a few staples and snack while playing video games. (This also led to a preference for food I could handle without flatware but also wasn’t greasy. Things wrapped in tortillas and carrotsticks.)
Now that I’m in the habit of prepping dinner every night, it feels weird when I don’t.
Same, I cook a big pot of whatever for the week so I don’t have to worry about dinner till my next day off. Shredded chicken or pork, ground meat goulash, taco fillings, etc. Easy to make, satisfying to eat.
Doesn’t for me, so it’s in your head. I actually feel less satisfied if I put the effort in, doesn’t feel like a pleasant gift from the universe, more like a zero sum game.
Because in general, most of them look like straight garbage. They say you eat with your eyes first so you’re swallowing a whole lotta depression before your first bite. Plate it up and pretty it up with some garnish. Some brands look better than others too. Stouffers and Boston Market come off as more of a home-cooked look.
Unless we’re focusing on the alone part. Can’t help you there. The answer as to why it feels that way is pretty obvious.
Foods just fuel to me unless I’ve had weed. But when my husband first started working long hours I didn’t enjoy eating alone. It didn’t matter what the food type was.
But unless I’m expecting someone around for meal time, I couldn’t care less if I eat alone or not
Food has always been something that’s very social and growing/hunting/preparing it a crucial part of culture. We’re wired for it. It binds us. Even if you had made no effort as part of the process, the kinship of knowing someone went all that effort for you is difficult to replace.
Anyway, when you just heat frozen food and eat it alone, all that pretty much goes down the drain.
I do agree, but its also kind of an amazing thing. I know this meal was made by a corporation for profit, but there was still a farmer that made the contents and a chef somewhere along the line cooked it before it was packaged. You might be missing the personal interaction with them, but there were still a lot of humans involved in bringing that meal to your table.
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