Coming Together at Mealtimes
Posted on November 28th, 2023
Author: Charlotte Barrett, Guest Blogger & MHF Volunteer
For many people, mealtimes are one of the only times they get the whole family or all their friends to sit down together. November was assigned #meatballmonth by the Muscle Help Foundation charity. We are encouraging people to fundraise and bring together their loved ones over some meatballs.
| “People who eat socially are more likely to feel better about themselves and have a wider social network capable of providing social and emotional support” SOURCE: 2017 study, University of Oxford |
While eating together is important, cooking together is another vital activity that connects us. Learning to cook is an essential survival technique that is important to teach the next generation, it also supports effective familial bonding and provides a stress relieving break from the mania of daily life.
Cooking for your loved ones is one way that many people show affection, and it is hard wired into our DNA to provide for our family, passing on recipes and memories that can last for generations to come. How often do you hear someone exclaim proudly that they finally got the hang of their grandmother’s sauce recipe or their father’s cake recipe?
Many of our memories are linked in with our senses. For example, my dad (pictured above) cooks the best lasagne (I will argue with anyone who states otherwise) and many of the big and small moments in my life are tied to this recipe. Birthdays, new jobs, commiseration dinners and even just standard Saturday nights. Nearly every memory with this meal connects my family, laughing, bickering, and chatting with the aroma of melted cheese and perfectly cooked layers of pasta and mince. I was so proud the first time I was able to recreate something even remotely like this.
My family have hosted their own meatball night this month with all branches of our family and friends. The kitchen was full to the brim with all twenty-one of us sharing a meal. I haven’t seen some of these family in weeks or months and yet this meatball month brought us all back to one another. The meatballs were great too with three different versions to try but it doesn’t beat catching up with some of the most important people in my life.
With busy and hectic life schedules, it is difficult for people to get together and eat regularly, which is why at Muscle Help Foundation we believe it is so important to come together for mealtimes.
| Family is one of the most important values at the charity and to us all who are part of the Muscle Warrior community across the UK, we are a family.
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We’re so grateful for anyone who has helped fundraise for us this #meatballmonth and we thank everyone who supports us, and we have been very lucky to have some incredible names behind us this meatball month.
