Unravel the true essence of the dining table, a piece of furniture that transcends its mere functional role. Explore its significance in fostering connections, nurturing traditions, and shaping our daily lives, beyond just a platform for meals.
The American Dining Room is Dying a Slow Death
The dining room is dying a slow death, and we’ve barely batted an eye
- For the sake of convenience, we don’t sit down for dinner anymore
- Dinner happens everywhere now, on the couch while streaming a television show, hunched over a kitchen countertop
The dining room might be off the table in the modern age
Modern hosting has surprisingly little to do with the dining table. People dine together wherever and whenever they can, and focus on the quality of their company rather than their surroundings.
- Even though some Americans may think back fondly on memories from their family dining rooms, they might not be able to afford to have one themselves. Young people who spend much of their salaries on rent in heavily populated cities don’t exactly have the space for a huge wooden table and china cabinets, let alone the budget.
How the tables have turned
Traditionally, meals were synonymous with togetherness. Today, the dining table still exists, but it often has been tasked with a new purpose: office space.
- Dinnertime is broader now – what time should we eat, in between working and commuting and practicing and studying and all our other -ings?
- It used to be considered rude to phone someone during dinner, which loosely meant between six and seven at night. Now, it isn’t all that strange to watch adults and children alike text through their shared dinners.
A formal history of formal dining
For centuries, having a dining room was seen as a marker of a rich family, and it implied a certain level of dignity.
- Across cultures and centuries, dining rooms continued to appear, but the modern American dining room has roots in 1800s Victorian England
- Early American dining rooms were meant to be fancy, with fine furniture to match, and this desire trickled down into the dining room preferences of the 1900s
- Old-world traditions stuck around for a long time as the transition occurred, but around the 1920s, our interest in casual, relaxed dining was sparked
How the kitchen ate the dining room
In the first half of the 20th century, a desire for less formal dining started to take hold
- People began to eat casual meals in the kitchen – the space was available, and allowed family members to flow between different activities
- Open floor plans also expedited the death of the formal dining room
