Setting the Table. Making an Altar.
Setting the table is more than just being fancy. It honors the food you eat and the people you eat it with.
Welcome to Tomato House. Here, I explore my love of food, the meals I cook, and how food touches all our lives. I am a home cook, taught by my parents, friends, and many failed meals. I invite you to share my meals and my thoughts, even if you can’t share my table. This is a free publication, but please subscribe to receive the latest essay in your inbox. I’d love to hear your thoughts too, so please leave a comment.
With gratitude.
I love setting the table.
As a child, I may have rolled my eyes every time that my parents asked me to set the table. But I suppose the eye roll is part of the child’s job as well. Now I love it.
I love a tablecloth, with a few stains to remind you of that wonderful dinner party you hosted last year.
I love cloth napkins and a butter dish. I like having a small plate with parmesan laid out so that everyone can add a little extra cheese if they wish. I love a good serving platter and a nice gravy boat.
Setting the table is a magical act. It transforms a meal into something sacred. Setting a table creates the altar around which we perform the ritual of dinner. The insertion of ceremony allows for the realm of the spiritual to enter this most mundane of daily activities.
Eating dinner may first be the functional act of consuming bodily sustenance. Yet, when performed with loved ones, around a beautiful table, dinner also provides nourishment for the soul.
We pause our busy lives for an hour or so and connect. We connect with nature and the cosmos by consuming the nourishment that the rays of the sun and the earth provide in the form of food. We also connect with each other through small acts, such as saying a blessing or asking about one’s day.
I don’t always make a show of dinner. Goodness knows, in my house, we’ve hungrily gathered around a table cluttered with non-diner items, just trying to make it to the end of the day. But on those special days, when I have the tiniest extra energy, I use it to set the table. The use of that energy pays enormous dividends as it fills me with joy and connection to those whom I love most, and I can’t think of any better return.
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