Why The Dinner Table Matters For Meaningful Conversations

September 18, 2020

by Rebecca Down Learn

Contents

In our most recent ‘Table Matters Report’, we looked into how conversations around the dinner table have changed in the past 10 years.

If like us, you’ve spent a LOT of time at your kitchen table you’ll know its importance when it comes to having a good natter. At HelloFresh, we believe that good conversations start over good food which is exactly why we ran our recent Table Matters Report to nosey into the conversations the nation has been having over lockdown and seeing how topics have changed in the past ten years.

Here’s what we found out…

Why the dinner table matters…

Our report showed that a third of parents say they have had more purposeful conversations with their children because of more frequent meals together and just over a third agreed that conversations overall are becoming more meaningful than before.

Increased access to live global news and a deluge of social media feeds have led to a more naturally inquisitive younger generation. The most popular topics in August – September 2020 have been revealed as, unsurprisingly, the global pandemic (54%), but more interestingly physical and mental health (19% & 15%) vs 2010’s conversation highlights of the royal wedding (22%), Facebook (19%) and Justin Bieber (12%).

That’s not to say the younger generation is necessarily more worried and less interested in celebrities and social media, they are just more accepting of previously considered taboo subjects such as mental health and societal issues.

Almost two-thirds said that other dinner time topics involved discussing exam results, family wellbeing and the future, whilst life goals and social injustice were also high up on the agenda. Over a quarter of parents admitted they feel most comfortable speaking about more meaningful conversations around mealtime.

Home-schooling (it’s not just for kids!)

The report reveals that children also school their parents too, with 81% of parents admitting they learnt something new on average up to four times per week. One third (37%) now consider the dinner table an extension of the classroom when learning new topics come to mind. Two-thirds of parents even admitted that their inquisitive kids have put them on the spot with general knowledge questions that they’ve had to google the answers to.

Thanks to lockdown, parents say they have been able to eat together up to 10 times each week, and as a result, half of the parents say they will now consider changing their evening routine once the kids go back to school to make more time to continue this new family bonding experience.

When asked why they’ll be changing their dinner time routine, 73% of people said it was because eating together makes them feel closer as a family unit, and over half (52%) said it’s because they have enjoyed the new conversations that they’ve had with the kids.

We have recipes that are guaranteed to get the conversations flowing…

Our weekly menus have 30 recipes to choose from each week and there’s something for every taste, occasion and cooking skill. Good conversations start over good food.