I once told a colleague that I was going to Amsterdam on a solo trip to wine and dine alone. “Do you not have any friends to go with?” she replied. She was joking, but I think she also meant it. Her comment was tinged with pity. Why would you choose to eat a three-course meal with a good view or order room service in a nice hotel on your own? What’s the point? Wouldn’t you want to share that with someone?

Eating alone often gets a bad rap. It’s getting an even worse rap now that the World Happiness Report moved Americans down the ranking in part because they are, apparently, eating alone too much. The picture doesn’t look good: too many people have no one to eat with, they lack community, and are clearly rather isolated and lonely. Community is incredibly important – especially now, when the world feels increasingly unstable and unpredictable. We all know that at the end of your life you will think about the people you love and how you spent time with them. Sharing a meal, especially in candlelight, is an intimate experience and makes us feel closer to one another. Historically, people gathered around open campfires – it was around these flickering flames that we first learned to share stories.

And yet there is also a huge number of people who really enjoy........

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