While wandering the ancient streets of Pompeii, I was struck by something unexpected: the importance and legacy of communal meals. Our tour guide explained that for the people of Pompeii, gathering to eat wasn’t just about survival—it was about connection, community, and culture. It made me think about how sharing meals is just as central to our lives today, particularly during holidays like Thanksgiving. Could this mean that while humans need to eat food to survive, what they really need is to share their meals with others to thrive?  Through this post, I’ll explore how the ancient tradition of communal eating in Pompeii connects to my own family’s Thanksgiving gatherings and the universal human need to share food together.

Anthropologists recognize that communal eating plays a vital role in human societies. From ancient times to today, gathering around food has served as a basis for more than just a way to satisfy hunger—it reinforces social bonds and fosters a sense of belonging. In Pompeii, the remnants of communal spaces such as the thermopolium (an ancient snack bar) and grand dining halls show how meals were central to their social life.  In fact, in the mercantile neighborhood that was preserved in ashes, I saw what looked like a wood fired pizza oven, where hundreds of breads that were being prepared and stamped with a branded "restaurant like" name and logo were uncovered just before what would have been a traditional lunch hour.  This supports the notion that so many residents or visitors would be gathering to share bread.  Just as we gather for special occasions now, ancient Pompeiians used meals as a way to celebrate, connect, and form community.

When I visited Pompeii, I learned that these shared meals were an integral part of daily life, much like they are during the American holiday, Thanksgiving. It’s fascinating to think that while thousands of years and vast cultural differences separate us, the act of sharing a meal continues to bind people together. The concept of communal eating feels especially close to home when I think about my family’s Thanksgiving tradition. Every year, we gather at my uncle’s house in Weston, Massachusetts, where we make a point to squish all the tables together into the dining room. This way all of us, from grandparents to babies, can share the meal in the same room, and all cousins and parents can gather around.  It’s a simple and imperfect act but one that stands out as a sense of togetherness.

In addition, a dish that always stands out during our Thanksgiving feast is my aunt’s tomato soup. We joke about it all year long, as no other soup quite compares to hers (not to mention she has special techniques like storing the tomatoes in brown paper bags for twenty-four hours prior to cooking)! Just as Pompeiians gathered around their shared meals, my family’s Thanksgiving meal became more than just food—it’s a ritual that brings us closer together, year after year. These gatherings, much like they did in ancient Pompeii, are a treasured time to eat together with extended family all in one place.

As I reflect on the connection between communal eating in ancient Pompeii and my family’s Thanksgiving traditions, I can’t help but wonder: How many other families have similar rituals that center around food? Sharing a meal is something we all do, but it’s often much more than a daily necessity. I did some research on why this may be the case, see this article. It turns out it does not make sense to have "feasts".  Who wants to collect and cook a lot of extra food that might not be consumed or is in excess of what is needed? However, it does appear to be a rather universal ritual across cultures and dating back significantly in time. I agree that when I eat with others I see social benefits such as the ability to make friends and connections, a common ground over which to discuss a wide variety of topics and a way to bond and trust others.  In fact, I am the founder of an Asian affinity group at my school and the best meeting time was over lunch!  

Exploring the tradition of communal eating, from ancient Pompeii to my family’s Thanksgiving, has deepened my appreciation for the simple act of sharing food. Whether it's a tomato soup that we compare to all others or a grand feast in ancient Rome, these meals remind us of our human need for connection. Through anthropology, I’ve come to see that what we eat and how we eat it tells a deeper story about who we are and where we come from.

Check out this article written by a Roman-food historian and experimental archaeologist from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco highlighting "The Culinary World of Pompeii."

The dining practices I saw in the Pompeii landscape were kitchens that were practical and functional in concept.  There were portable hearths to be used both inside the house or in the garden if cooking outside in the garden.  There was also sometimes a craticula, or a special grid used similar to a modern day barbecue.  The evidence of eating rituals from the ancient times is fascinating.  As in any modern town we live in today, it was always possible to eat out at an inn or taberna and the menu was displayed outside to entice any passersby.  While associated with a different land and time from the present, I noticed the marketplace concept of food stalls as there were so many different places to buy and eat foods, especially while trading goods.  This cultural concept of varied shop owners, restaurants and communal food halls seem be the roots of food courts or other similarly situated outdoor food offerings.  Also, the outdoor food oven or shared cooking areas was commonplace and a great way for communities to chat and come together around food!  Imagine if they taught cooking classes or shared the burden of cooking together?   What a community building event that would have been!        

As it turns out we might even be able to help our community by eating together. I have found studies that show eating together makes humans happier and can influence what we eat. Here is an article I found relating to military nutrition research and dietary patterns and here is an article in the journal of eating disorders. What if eating together helped us as a community because we could help invidiuals struggling with eating disoders? I think there is real potential here for humans to help humanity as a whole by just eating together because social eating can impact what we eat, how much we eat and how happy we are.  Even if there is still more research to be done in this field, this is one easy step we can take as humans to help our collective humanity improve, one meal at a time.  

What are the meals that bring your family or friends together? Do certain dishes or traditions carry special meaning? The next time you sit down to a shared meal, consider the long history behind this seemingly simple act and how it continues to foster connection across generations and cultures.