Eating together builds trust...if its the same food
Breaking bread while sharing others company naturally builds trust. This is especially the case when you are eating the same food. If you are both willing to consume the same food, and in the process are sitting together it helps build cooperation. NPR social studies have shown that if you are sitting with at least one other person but are eating different foods that the trust level might not be as high. When study groups order a pizza together there is a lot of camaraderie because everybody is delving in for a slice of cheesy goodness. That is easy to relate to. If you are studying for a big test with a couple other people and one of you is munching down on Chinese food while another fiddles with a salad than don’t expect the links in the chain to be as tight. This isn’t to say that you can’t build trust by just breaking bread together. Many times when out at restaurants since we all have diverse palates, an array of menu items are ordered by different parties at the same table. If this wasn’t the case then what would be the point of having a menu at all? As Ayelet Fishbach at the University of Chicago states, “Food really connects people. To eat the same foods suggest that we are both willing to bring the same thing into our bodies, people just feel closer to people that are eating the same foods as they do.” Through her studies she found out that groups of people reached agreements much faster when eating the same types of foods while breaking bread together. So next time you want to get somebody on the same page as you bring them whatever you are eating for lunch and have a conversation and see where it leads!
Photo from cbsnews.com