Lunch: A positive intervention in the workplace?‎

Everybody has to eat. In humans, meal eating is typically a social event, and there is a generally positive word, commensality, to describe this fact. Commensality seems to be a situation which promotes bonding. Many people spend one third of their waking hours at work. Lunch is the meal that happens in the middle of most people’s workday and could be an opportunity to create a form of commensality. Bonding enhances well-being. Therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that commensality will improve well-being, including at the workplace. A study was done to see if Americans perceive a commensal situation at work to demonstrate bonding and well-being, in contrast to a similar situation without food.