Page 109 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2019
P. 109
STAYING CONNECTED
Eating Together
CHRIS DENNETT
he June 1st, 2018 issue of Scientific American featured an article about the duration of Thanksgiving dinner in
T2016 that showed Americans were spending between 30 to 50 fewer minutes feasting, especially in families that
were not politically aligned and in areas that had higher frequency of political advertising. It’s a fascinating study,
focused on the idea that we are no longer very good at eating together, basically because we’re also no longer very
good at getting along with each other. As a person who spends time thinking about food and its role in society, I
began to wonder if the premise might be completely backward. Is it possible that we are bad at getting along with
each other because we are bad at eating together?
winter 2019 | www.southernoregonmagazine.com 107
