Who likes to see you eat?

We must like to watch each other eat. We spend much of our time dining together. We prepare food to place on a table for all to gather and munch down.

We gorge ourselves with family gatherings, weddings, holidays, sports events or any other good excuse we can think of. The plates and forks and spoons are divided for each and every consumer. The meals can be prepared on the spot or catered. If one dines at the White House there are burgers and fries from McDonalds.

We gather together to talk, but you can talk with your mouth full of food. Chomping on a chicken leg while trying to laugh at a joke could cause the need for a hydride maneuver. Spitting chucks of your meal across the table will not endue you to your neighbors. Trying to finish the story while slurping spaghetti will just drool sauce down your chin.

The true adventures are the stand-up lawn parties holding your plate and wine glass while talking as other walk about. The food will get cold, trying to juggle the plate and glass and finger pick a few pieces of cheese or a bit of celery hopefully not spilling the entire mess onto the grass for a embarrassing story for others to share.

If the idea is to sit and eat, then gulp everything down quick so you can have a conversation after wiping your face? If the idea is just to eat and not talk, why not stay home?

Since the polite sit-down dinner has quiet chats over the Hors d’oeuvres and candles, wait staff will deliver and remove full plates never touched. These meals are not about eating but being included in the invitation.

The casual get together will cause basic manners and leave pizza box stains on your sofa and empty beer cans under the bed.

The next time you wander out into a dining establishment with (or without) others, take a moment and what the other patron chowing down.

We should probably only eat alone.