This is probably not healthy. Meals are—or at least were—meant not just for nourishment, but for companionship, for a different sort of sustenance. Family mealtime has traditionally been considered an important part of childhood development. More than 20 years ago, a study on nutrition in the Journals of Gerontology found that among elderly people 98% of those who were married said they enjoyed mealtimes, but half of those who were widowed said they ate out of habit or just to survive.
It is a part of life that has been with us for a long time, and was once openly acknowledged. There is a quietly poignant scene in the 1936 movie “Dodsworth,” based on the Sinclair Lewis novel. The title character, played by Walter Huston, is alone on a trip to Europe, having been abandoned by his wife. He unexpectedly receives a lunch invitation, and responds: “I’d be so glad to have someone to talk to.”
He says to the person who has asked him to lunch: “There’s a couple at my hotel, one of those really married couples, and they sit at the table next to me every night. They never say one word to each other through dinner. After dinner they sit in the lounge, till 10. Every night at 10 the husband says to his wife, ‘Mary, it’s getting late.’ Just those four words.”
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