Eating, according to scientific opinion, is that which gives us joy and health and adds social ties in our lives.
Friendship over food is always a reliable habit, only just with someone for whom it is most cherished.
A March publication from the World Happiness Report, with data from 2025, features the factual ranking of the happiest countries, with Finland at the top, and debates what really makes people happy in today's world. Well-being data from 140 countries have been collated along with an 'on-the-job analysis' by world-leading investigators from many academic disciplines that found this report intending to give "everybody the know-how to create more happiness for themselves and others." Sharing a meal just may be one of the better highways to a more spontaneous happiness.
"They indeed referred to all the different types of care and sharing we undertake with each other; probably the most universal, this would be sharing food." Thus stated the executive summary of the study regarding the chapter examining food sharing's importance. They finally concluded on the assertion that "dining alone is not good for well-being," while "groups that often eat together are happy people," factoring in other variables, including the number of people living in the household.
In the chapter on dining, the authors of the Happiness Report illustrate that the consequences of regularly eating meals solo are quite real. The paper cites a particular meta-analysis that defined loneliness and isolation's negative health effects as being "roughly equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day."
Conversely, another study mentioned in the report found that "meal sharing provides strong links to positive affect," yet it was pointed out that this positive effect "decreased with increased smartphone use during meals." In one last study, it turns out that when adults shared meals, they reported lower amounts of depression, thereby confirming that we all stand to gain from sharing a meal as such.
Though simply sitting together may be a good start, Dr. Laurie Santos—Yale University cognitive scientist and professor of psychology and instructor for the Science of Well-Being course—has some easy suggestions to elevate the happiness factor even further.
It is not just Americans who could put this wisdom into practice. There is a positive link observed between dining together and happiness in cultures other than America, including Finland, which has been mentioned in the report: Average Finns reported sharing about 10 meals a week with "someone you know." This difference is statistically significant and practically meaningful."
Still, this isn't to say that no happiness can happen over solo meals now and then.
"The key there would be to find ways to be mindful and savor your meal," Santos continued. "In fact, the report shows at least one meal eaten alone is better than all together. There's a balance there. The trouble is that most of us are eating alone too much, so shared meals would be a significant boost in well-being for a lot of people."