We sit down at table three times a day, more than a thousand times a year. Much routine. Some celebration. Eating is beautiful, everyone likes to gather at table, it does good.
At table to nourish ourselves
Eating is necessary to live, and we do it several times a day. Those who do not eat, or do not eat enough because food is lacking (as happens in poorer countries) or because they never feel hungry (as happens to some people with handicap) know that they are unwell or will become unwell.
Every mother is concerned that her child, from the first days of life, eats well and eats properly.
It is not a luxury or a whim: food is life.
We eat because it is vital, but very soon we eat because we feel pleasure; when we are hungry, we appreciate food and we know which food is good, which we like most. One need only look at a child (and not only a child) devouring a banana or a piece of still-warm pizza.
The primordial gesture of nursing creates at once between mother and child the first bond, one could say the first step of communication: a silent and beautiful dialogue that will continue and extend later around the family table.
At table to gather as a family
Precisely today, in a time of self-service, of different schedules, of television, of sandwiches on the run, of hamburgers, of fast-food, it is so important that the family (or the community) gather at least once a day together. And where to find a better moment and place than around the dinner table? It does everyone good to gather before steaming spaghetti to listen to the news from one another, to the beautiful or difficult moments spent at school, at work; to comment on the news of the day, on politics; to tell what will be done in the afternoon, or the next day; to relax, to rest a bit, to laugh together, to feel part of a whole, of a family indeed (or of a community).
At table to learn
To learn to live together: to share the cake, to leave some for others; to learn to wait one's turn, to eat in a way that is pleasing to others, not to speak with one's mouth full... These considerations would not matter if everyone ate alone, for themselves, but a meal around a table is a moment of socializing par excellence. There one learns to speak with those beside you, to listen to what they have to tell us.
I believe that every mother knows well the efforts, the labors of preparing a good meal, but also the joy of seeing husband and children gathered, happy to sit down with her to enjoy together one of the most beautiful moments of family life.
At table to welcome
To welcome the schoolmate, the cousin, the aunt, the passing guest, the lonely person... And if at times it is difficult to speak, to put the invited person at ease, it is always easy to fill a plate, to make an extra portion, to appreciate a homemade dessert, to enjoy the wine saved for a special occasion.
Under every sky the celebration is an occasion to sit at table, to offer food and drink
Under every sky the celebration is an occasion to sit at table, to offer food and drink"Add a place at the table," as the song says, is to make the easiest, most pleasing gesture to be welcoming. It will be a simple and everyday welcome in some cases, or a welcome with great preparations for a special occasion, which will then see all family members mobilized to extend the table, prepare the flowers, the place cards, help in the kitchen.
At table to celebrate
The table, indeed, the usual place for daily bread is also the occasion to celebrate. Under every sky, in all civilizations, celebration is an occasion to sit at table, or at least to offer food and drink. And foods themselves have different meanings. This is proved by the most varied traditional foods on the occasion of special celebrations: panettone at Christmas, Easter dove cake, wedding or birthday cake; lentils and cotechino on New Year's Day...
It is good to preserve celebrations, because they represent an indispensable dimension of our existence.
It is beautiful to prepare family celebrations with care and joy: they are part of tradition, they will be remembered by adults with nostalgia; children are enthusiastic about them as are our friends with handicap. And I with them.
I like the exceptional dish, the abundance and variety, the aesthetics of the plates and their presentation; the elegance of the table setting. Moreover, I like hospitality, an indispensable ingredient of a celebration; because all the efforts that a fine meal or a fine dinner require will be largely rewarded by the joy that will be seen on the faces of the guests.
- Nicole Schulthes, 1989