Comment by sublinear
3 hours ago
> food and drink spare us from the burden of needing to have something to say throughout the whole conversation
It's usually the source of new topics when I'm at lunch. People inevitably order something different that looks good, or have a funny story they're reminded of when they see something.
Meals where the topic veers into food preferences and lengthy comparisons to other food that was eaten another time make me want to leave my body. But it’s such a common default in mixed groups.
what do you prefer to talk about?
It’s a safe entry point, anyone can chime in and borders on phatic. I get it. But my preference is it triggers something quickly like a funny story as op said. Too often the ritual just gets stuck.
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Personally? Almost literally anything but food
I've always been a picky eater and it's been a source of a lot of embarrassing situations for me in my life. Now I'm celiac too, and many people still kind of roll their eyes when I say I have to be gluten free. Talking about food with people I don't know well makes me uncomfortable as hell.
To the point raised in another conment: it doesn't feel like a safe easy topic for me because in my life it often hasn't been
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