Where do you eat when at home?

[Elawin]

We sit at the dining room table, occasionally for a lunch we sit on the sofa but 98% of the time we sit at the table. We were both raised this way and continue to do so.

When I was young, we always ate at a table in the dining room. In 1956, when we got a TV, that was put in the dining room too, and there was a small settee and armchair in there. The front room was the "best" room and was only ever used when we had visitors, and even then we never ate our meals in there. Both my sisters got married not long after that. The older one and her husband spent a couple of years in lodgings but bought a small house when the oldest of their children was born. My other sister and her husband lived all over the place. He had a job which meant travelling all over England, but eventually his job changed and he was based in the Home Counties. For a while the front room became a bed-sit for them, while they were waiting for their first house to be built. After they moved, the front room became a normal room. The TV was moved in there, and Mum and Dad got a small table (more of a high coffee table) for us to eat off. Dad, my brother and I all came home at different times, Dad worked Sundays, my brother was usually out at weekends when he was home, so there was only me and Mum eating at the usual time. The big table was only kept just in case, and eventually I inherited it. My daughter is a stickler for eating up at the table though, as well as eating at set times.

 

[Elawin]

Would that depend on someone bringing it to you? I can't remember the last time that happened to me...

Of course, or on the very odd occasion that I've stayed in a hotel with room service

 

[Lynne Guinne]

We sit at the dining room table, occasionally for a lunch we sit on the sofa but 98% of the time we sit at the table. We were both raised this way and continue to do so.

That is how I was raised, and how we "did" dinners when our children lived at home. If one (or more) of their friends were around at mealtime, they were invited to join us. I can't remember how many of them commented that it was nice we all gathered at the table together. I guess by the 1990s it was falling out of fashion in our part of the U.S.

When we first moved to Massachusetts, now without our kids, the two of us ate together at the table most nights, and every Sunday brunch - well, unless we went out to eat. Then hubby's work scheduled changed; he started working 4:00 PM until midnight. When he would get home around 1:00 AM, he wanted to catch up on the evening news - a local TV station replays their late-night news at that time. So we sat in the living room, watching the news. Over time, sitting in the living room became the norm. At least we still all sit around the table when we visit the kids back home.

 

[sidevalve]

In front of the telly usually [I just use a magazine to balance the plate on - trays are much too easy]. The table is only used when we have guests for dinner - very rare these days.

 

[Morning Glory]

Hmm... its beginning to look like the majority of folk here don't eat at a dining table. Maybe I should add a poll to this thread.

 

[Lullabelle]

My dad did not have a happy time growing up, not a close or happy family and that made him determined not to be like that with his own family which is why all meals were at the table so that we talked and laughed together.

 

[Morning Glory]

My dad did not have a happy time growing up, not a close or happy family and that made him determined not to be like that with his own family which is why all meals were at the table so that we talked and laughed together.

That is a lovely thing. I now feel guilty about my family!

 

[MrsDangermouse]

We almost always eat at the dining table - we have a kitchen-diner rather than a separate dining room. Occasionally we'll eat at the breakfast bar. We often have the radio on but there's no TV in the kitchen.

We never eat on our laps in the lounge.....we used to in our old house, and in the flat before that. But we made a conscious decision when we moved that we wouldn't eat in the lounge....it was one of my conditions when we went for a white carpet in there lol.


Don't tell hubby.....but when he's away I do eat in the lounge in front of the TV. No idea if he does the same when I'm away (probably does). I guess its a companionship thing....eating on your own at the table can feel quite lonely.

 

[Morning Glory]

Don't tell hubby.....but when he's away I do eat in the lounge in front of the TV. No idea if he does the same when I'm away (probably does). I guess its a companionship thing....eating on your own at the table can feel quite lonely.

I love that! What we get up to (eating/cooking) when alone. A new thread perhaps.

 

[Slumgullioneer]

Living room coffee table mostly. I'm not a big sit-at-the-dining-table type eater.
I save that for when I go out to eat.

 

[Elawin]

My ex-husband used to put his children's plates on the floor! If I'd have known that before I married him, I probably would have told him where to go. Even my dog's and cats' dishes are not on the floor (the dog eats from a raised dish, and the cats have little raised places where they can eat in peace).

 

[MypinchofItaly]

We always eat in the dining room. We have a very small coffee table in the kitchen where we have breakfast ( but that I think we will take away because it takes away space in an already small kitchen). Lately we have breakfast standing, it is more practical. But lunch or dinner always on the table in the dining room. Rare times we eat on the sofà, except if we take away from Burger King or Kebap or crust made by my husband like last week.
When my husband is away for work sometimes I eat on the sofà but few times. Never in bed. I do not like it at all. The only thing is the first coffee of the day that my husband prepares (he always wakes up before me) and brings me a cup of coffee..little cuddle.