Food For Thought: All the Ingredients of a Great Dining Experience

March 05, 2023 | Blog | Reading Time 3:00 Minutes

Foulk Living Serves It Up

It’s no secret that eating is vital to survival; it’s a non-negotiable necessity. We need food in order to provide the nutrients that are absolutely essential for life itself. But in addition to sustenance, dining has become the center of Western culture, tradition and experience.

Eating For Nourishment

Oley.org defines eating as “the consumption of food and liquid to sustain life and meet our body’s basic needs for growth, development and function.” Every component of the human body depends on food for basic survival. Food provides nutrients and substances essential for the growth, repair, and maintenance of body tissues and for regulating vital bodily processes.

Healthy eating, including specific nutrients, can help enhance cognitive function and concentration. It also helps fight illness and disease, and obesity.

The Delicious Factor

But aside from eating food, it’s important to enjoy food. The better the taste, the more enjoyment from eating, and in all likelihood, the greater quantity consumed.

The term foodie has become popular due to the growing interest and enjoyment in dining. It refers to someone who is extremely interested in food, delicious food. The Official Foodie Handbook explains, “The foodie eats to meet the demands of her body from the neck up, not the neck down. Mind, mouth, soul: This is where the foodie lives.”

The Importance of Dining Companionship

An important part of the essential ingredient of the dining experience is companionship. Dining with others is an easy way to bring people together, providing the opportunity to chat, swap stories, discuss current events, share memories, laugh, and enjoy. Some people will even say that the company makes the food taste better.

Studies show that dining with others promotes health and well-being. In fact, the publication HelpGuide.org says eating with others “can be as important as adding vitamins to your diet.” The benefits of eating with others are so compelling that Canada has updated its national food guide to encourage people to eat with others if possible.

There are several reasons why communal eating is good for you. Among the top benefits is that eating with others is known to help improve one’s nutritional intake. This type of ‘social facilitation’ refers to an improvement in an individual’s performance when it occurs with others present. Regarding eating, this translates to individuals making better food choices: eating more regularly, making more nutritious choices, and indulging in less stress and binge eating with peers.

Physical benefits of social eating also include your body releasing endogenous opioids and oxytocin, resulting in an increase in happiness. There’s also an improvement in digestive function.

Fine Dining at Foulk Living Senior Living Community

At Foulk Living senior living community in Wilmington, Delaware, our beautiful restaurant-style dining venues provide a wonderful multi-sensory experience… the aroma of delicious food, the sound of conversation and laughter, the taste of delectable fare, and the sight of friends enjoying each other’s company.