Much of the business of the human race has been conducted over the dinner table. There are several reasons for that. One of them is convenience: In the harried pace of life - and it was so in ancient times as often as it is today - mealtime, which everybody had to take time for anyway, became as convenient a time as any to communicate, to take care of things, to check signals, and generally to keep in touch. In fact, many families only see each other when they’re eating and, at that, often only at certain meals in the day or week.

Another reason for the fact that significant things happen at mealtime is that mealtimes tend to be good times. We need to eat. We almost always feel better after doing so. Eating seems to go with festive occasions. We associate our table with the good times we’…