[randomsilence]

You could still live without those food rituals if you replace them with other means of human interactions. Instead of sharing a meal, you could also go on a hike with friends. Is there something essential to a meal that cannot be replaced?

Though in principal I agree with you. Food is a pivotal point in life. Which makes me wonder: How much is our life determined by the rituals that surround food?

[lordkrandel]

In Italy, 80%+.

Eating is the main source of social aggregation in the small group. It's the phisiological nature of the gesture, the biological need to eat, that brings everybody to the same table where the resource is.

Also cooking is a ritual, that prepares you to the meal with smells, sight, hunger. It also makes you relax. Try that, if you don't actually cook yourself your meals.