what do you talk about when you have a good meal?

[athinaeos]

having a good a meal is an act that can enhance our culture and civilization

whether it is at home, or at a restaurant, a good meal (and the accompanying drinks) can become an uplifting and satisfying experience

as this experience is most often one we share with other people, family, friends, other encounters, it is embellished (i hope) with one or more conversation topics

what do you talk about when you have a good meal?

you may answer both from a positive and a negative perspective, starting from the ideal and ending with the nightmarish topic

cheers

[wattacetti]

Doesn't this depend on the situation at hand, in particular with the company the meal is being shared with?

I remember one great dinner with Stanley Prusiner where we sat around and talked about BSE, vCJD and how the labs could initiate a research collaboration. Not something that the other diners were interested in or pleased with, but it was something that engaged our table.

On the more flippant side, I've also had good meals where my raison d'être was to just sit there and listen to friends b*tch about anything and everything.

[Lori in PA]

I must have some unknown French blood in me, because I like to talk about the food! How the cook came to decide to make it, how the ingredients were procured, the cooking process, how it tastes, etc. Failing that, I like to talk about other foods, recipes, ingredients...

[HVRobinson]

Over a fine dinner? Dessert. Where to walk it off. Other dinners that compare with this one. Who amongst our circle of friends would especially like this place. If it's with the wife alone-- remembering romantic dinners past-- the nekkid soup, the time we had the whole top floor of an old Victorian restaraunt to ourselves and danced to the music all by ourselves between courses, or that romantic night on our honeymoon where we ate on a pier over the Central California Coast above the stormy seas and the rain coming down through the roof. Besides-in the people's republic of California there's no place to have a brandy and cigar after dinner-- and that's also part of the dining experience too!

[jackal10]

The old table rules prohibited discussion of:

The food

Politics

Religion

Sexual life of anyone present

With good friends there is always lots talk about. With strangers or near strangers, as at a function, its safe to assume that they will love to talk about themselves, and so to ask where they are from, and about their family, maybe moving on to their geneology.

[Pan]

When I'm not dining out by myself, I'm usually with friends or family. We tend to talk about the food and other places we've eaten lately or in the past, about our careers, and about most anything else that comes up or we want to talk about. Discussion often has something to do with some of the traditionally prohibited topics Jack posted above. (But really, are these traditionally prohibited for Ashkenazic Jews? I don't think so! But considering that discretion is the better part of valor, I'll let you imagine some traditional Ashkenazic conversations that cover such topics...) The only topics that I really tend to steer clear of are those that are likely to provoke a visceral reaction of nausea. But again, that's because these are meals with friends and family. I do behave differently in more formal gatherings with strangers and so forth.

[Carrot Top]

The only topics that I really tend to steer clear of are those that are likely to provoke a visceral reaction of nausea. But again, that's because these are meals with friends and family. I do behave differently in more formal gatherings with strangers and so forth.

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So it's at the more formal gatherings with strangers and so forth that you bring up the topics that are likely to provoke a visceral reaction of nausea?

If you ever care to write a book, a collection of these topics and lines of discussion would be a best seller to each and every ten year old boy on the planet.

They, however, have no qualms about attempting to bring up these topics at the family dinner table.

[mikeycook]

Other than the food and wine at hand, I find travel is usually a common discussion, as a good meal invariably brings to mind other good meals in other places.

[Jacqui Ingledew]

jackal10  Yesterday, 02:56 PM Post #6

The old table rules prohibited discussion of:

The food

Politics

Religion

Sexual life of anyone present

With very good friends we discuss any of the above at dinner and you can add "any other gossip" to that list. The family table is the question and answer time for the kids and no topic is taboo (I have a family of boys) though they know if we are at a restaurant they have to keep the conversation clean.

[Lori in PA]

In our own family, everynight dinners often feature a "question of the evening." Someone poses a question and each person at the table has the opportunity to answer. These range from "What is the best thing that happened to you today?" to "If you could travel anywhere and money was no object, where would you go?" to "If you could be an animal for a day, what would you be?" I'm waiting for one of the boys to say something like, "Describe the most interesting booger you ever saw," but so far so good. I started this practice in response to reading the following quote somewhere:

"Small people discuss other people,

Average people discuss events,

Exceptional people discuss ideas."

[FabulousFoodBabe]

what do you talk about when you have a good meal?

you may answer both from a positive and a negative perspective, starting from the ideal and ending with the nightmarish topic

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What is fun to talk about is ... trips. Scuba diving, skiing and golf and how to totally screw up in those areas. We talk about when we were young and redoing our houses, by ourselves, and how somehow it was simpler than now, when we have more money and hiring architects to do it.. Second wives and second husbands not present are also fair game, if they belong to someone's parent or former a-hole boss. Dogs. Yeah, dogs are good. And funny things that the kids say about us, and how they can't believe anyone as clueless and stupid as we are, have managed to live this long. Also, any Wine Country trips are always a good time to talk about. Hell, anything that happened when we lived in California is fun.

But I do NOT like to talk about the food on the plate. It drives me nuts to be be interrupted and asked if I'm enjoying the meal in front of me, most of all, by a dining companion. I don't care to talk about if and why someone else is not enjoying their meal. I also don't like to talk about how much food it is or how someone (usually a Skinnie) just can't eat that much. I don't like to talk about ingredients or "richness" of a food, how many fat grams are in it, etc. , or how long someone is going to have to run the next day in order for the meal to not attach itself to their ass and anything it comes in contact with.

[Pan]

The only topics that I really tend to steer clear of are those that are likely to provoke a visceral reaction of nausea. But again, that's because these are meals with friends and family. I do behave differently in more formal gatherings with strangers and so forth.

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So it's at the more formal gatherings with strangers and so forth that you bring up the topics that are likely to provoke a visceral reaction of nausea?[...]

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Naturally, that isn't what I meant, but I'm glad you got a laugh out of that.

[athinaeos]

I remember one great dinner with Stanley Prusiner where we sat around and talked about BSE, vCJD and how the labs could initiate a research collaboration. Not something that the other diners were interested in or pleased with, but it was something that engaged our table.

On the more flippant side, I've also had good meals where my raison d'être was to just sit there and listen to friends b*tch about anything and everything.

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When the chemistry of the people around the table is good, i have found that you can have any sort of conversation from the most obscure of subjects, to the most lighthearted ones.

[athinaeos]

I must have some unknown French blood in me, because I like to talk about the food!  How the cook came to decide to make it, how the ingredients were procured, the cooking process, how it tastes, etc.  Failing that, I like to talk about other foods, recipes, ingredients...

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sounds wonderful! even though i have not analyzed your blood yet! i could add the historical background of the recipe, the variations from region to region ...

[Lori in PA]

I must have some unknown French blood in me, because I like to talk about the food!  How the cook came to decide to make it, how the ingredients were procured, the cooking process, how it tastes, etc.  Failing that, I like to talk about other foods, recipes, ingredients...

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sounds wonderful! even though i have not analyzed your blood yet! i could add the historical background of the recipe, the variations from region to region ...

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Yes, yes, yes!

[athinaeos]

or that romantic night on our honeymoon where we ate on a pier over the Central California Coast above the stormy seas and the rain coming down through the roof

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what a powerful moving picture you have painted here! good food opens the memory gates and pictures like the one you have painted invade the dinner table along with emotions that have been unlocked by the culinary experience

[athinaeos]

To hell with that! 

Food is the #1 topic for discussion with the exception of calories, fat grams, diets and exercise, which should be forbidden.  Good food, mind you.

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i totally agree with the food-centric approach even though i cannot follow it when i am invited for dinner, and the food leaves a lot to be desired - in this case i prefer to talk about the weather

i am very uncomfortable when people start talking about how fattening the foies is, and how many miles they have to run to burn the calories - total turn off!

[athinaeos]

Other than the food and wine at hand, I find travel is usually a common discussion, as a good meal invariably brings to mind other good meals in other places.

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and invariably a discussion of the terroir of the place if not also the culinary culture

[athinaeos]

With very good friends we discuss any of the above at dinner and you can add "any other gossip" to that list. The family table is the question and answer time for the kids and no topic is taboo (I have a family of boys) though they know if we are at a restaurant they have to keep the conversation clean.

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it is so nice to have this "open environment" for the young ones! i have found that many times what counts for them is not so much the answer they get, as the feeling that they can securely ask whatever they want

[athinaeos]

In our own family, everynight dinners often feature a "question of the evening."  Someone poses a question and each person at the table has the opportunity to answer.  These range from "What is the best thing that happened to you today?" to "If you could travel anywhere and money was no object, where would you go?" to "If you could be an animal for a day, what would you be?"  I'm waiting for one of the boys to say something like, "Describe the most interesting booger you ever saw," but so far so good.  I started this practice in response to reading the following quote somewhere:

"Small people discuss other people,

Average people discuss events,

Exceptional people discuss ideas."

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in my experience it is the overall "aura" of the table that matters, much more than the content of the questions and answers session

my childhood memories include vivid recollections of the expressions of people around the dinner table and the tone of their voice but very little of what was said

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Dogs.  Yeah, dogs are good. 

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now that you mention it, i remember that when my dog "bil" was around the table, he would eat and then participate in the conversation making his own noises and moves

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No doubt he was spot-on, and his diction, precise. (If that's what it can be ...)

My sons' table conversations are legendary, and have evolved from theories about primordial soup, black holes, why literature pertains to them when they KNOW they won't ever use the lessons of Jane Eyre in their future lives , to whether or not oranges smell weird, to the true reasons behind the crash of the Hindenburg.

[Rebecca263]

This is a very interesting thread. When it first opened up, I thought that I couldn't possibly list the subjects that are discussed at our meals, so I kept tabs for the past couple of days. I found that topics vary somewhat, by time of day.

For breakfast :

(daily with my 16 year old)we've discussed Maupassant, the weather, masturbation, schedules, tooth brushing and eyebrow maintenance, sewing, baking, the film 400 Blows, joining a new charity, and what to eat for dinner.

With the 2 year old that I babysit the breakfast topics were the book Potty Time, apple for snack, and the next day it was cake. Cake, cake, cake? Cake? "After you finish", is the answer to that burning hot subject. That kid likes to eat. At every meal she is talking about the next one. Future eGulleter!

Lunch topics:

with my sister- parking, critiquing of the food, real estate, Juicy Couture and our hair.

With my 5 year old niece the subjects were what Barbie have I bought her, are we going bowling, how good the 'cheese'(tofu) in her soup was, and her reading a book(she's just learning, it's a big thrill, you know).

With my 16 year old, the subject was how to sew a button so that it won't come off, Steppenwolf, various meatball recipes, and how to prepare the chicken for dinner.

Dinner: the heat breaking down, which led to a discussion of moving back to South Beach, La Dolce Vita, Fellini, Fellini's relationship with Catholicism, The Most Beautiful Mathematical Formulas (she's reading it, I don't understand it), shoes for a gown, making a mask for an upcoming masquerade ball, politics, and the veracity of the supposed virginity of some of her schoolmates.

Whew! The only unusual thing I DID take note of is that everyone talked about books with me, except my sister.

Edited February 10, 2006 by Rebecca263 (log)

[athinaeos]

For breakfast :

(daily with my 16 year old)we've discussed Maupassant,

Dinner: La Dolce Vita, Fellini, Fellini's relationship with Catholicism,

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some associations and questions that come to mind:

breakfast > croissant > french >

literature (why? could be fashion)

> maupassant (why? could be zola)

dinner > pasta > italian

> movies (why? could be cars)

> fellini (why? could be de sica)

[Rebecca263]

some associations and questions that come to mind:

breakfast > croissant > french

literature (why? could be fashion)

maupassant (why? could be zola)

               

dinner > pasta > italian

movies (why? could be cars)

fellini (why? could be de sica)

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BREAKFAST:no croissants, because I do not know how to make them!

Usually, steel cut oats, with fruit.

Not much fashion talk at the table with kiddle, hmmm. I DO wonder why?

Maupassant, because kiddle loves to discuss the back story... i.e. people's lives, and Maupassant is a recent read. She read Zola's Complete Short Stories a few years back, for the first time, and we talked a LOT about the habit of writing emotional 'hooks' in stories at the time, I recall.

DINNER: Pasta only once a week or so, mostly we eat various salads and Syrian food. Maybe we SHOULD do theme dinners, I'll ask...

Cars: Well, a month or so ago we were discussing the 'french fry' car, as kiddle is wanting one, but in general, cars don't usually come up, even nice Italian ones!

Fellini, because we tend to watch films in series at home, and we are going through Fellini with a side of Maddin right now.

Also, because kiddle has discovered the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases, with some books on Fellini!

De Sica, well, she has seen Bicycle Thieves, maybe Vittorio should be next on the list! I can always start off with his turn in the Warhol Dracula film, can't I? And, she'd adore seeing Bocaccio, she really got a kick out of the book Decameron.

Great ideas!

[athinaeos]

BREAKFAST:no croissants, because I do not know how to make them!

DINNER: Pasta only once a week or so, mostly we eat various salads and Syrian food. Maybe we SHOULD do theme dinners, I'll ask...

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alternatively

breakfast: brioche, a great bread; Marie Antoinette wanted to feed the masses with it!

it may lead to another conversation path: painting > > colors > cezanne

dinner: pizza may lead to

poetry > dreams > pasolini (in my mind pier paolo was a poet)

enjoy!