Epilogue from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece, and Rome

I am always concerned when I see a person in the supermarket with a basket filed with private food. You know what I mean by private food, of course. Little packages of instant and prepared foods that indicate that this person intends to eat alone again tonight. We see a lot of this among the older members of our culture, and we always mumble something about being pleased with their sense of independence. It may not be independence. It may be simple loneliness.

The three ancient cultures that we have looked at in this volume did not, and do not, understand private eating. For one thing it was economically impossible to eat by yourself in the early days. The fuel for the kichen was too expensive, and the idea of living by yourself was unheard of. In America we claim that we value privacy and independence, and have therefore put a whole lifestyle on the market based on the ability to get along without anyone else. That is what private foods mean. We have sought a time of independence for everyone in our culture... and I am convinced that the result has not been pride in privacy, but rather an insight into the fact that privatude, in the end, offers only one thing—and that is loneliness.

Great food is not to be eaten by oneself. Eating privately is simply learning to sustain yourself, but dining is always done with other people. Please reconsider the plight of the people you know who live by themselves. Invite them in for a Roman dinner party, or for a Chinese or Greek dinner party. You and your children will be richer for it and your children will understand that the table is the proper place for sharing. And your guest? He or she, at the end of the evening, will give you a hug and say, "When can I come back?" That is what the ancient table was for... and what the table should be for in our time.

I bid you peace.