A recent (2014) issue of National Geographic explored how sharing food together has always been part of the human story. The article points to a cave near Tel Aviv where there is evidence of ancient meals prepared at a 300,000-year-old hearth, the oldest ever found, where diners gathered to eat together. In the cave archeologists found a circular loaf of bread with scoring marks, baked to be divided.

The article continues:

"To break bread together," a phrase as old as the Bible, captures the power of a meal to forge relationships, bury anger, provoke laughter. Children make mud pies, have tea parties, trade snacks to make friends, and mimic the rituals of adults. They celebrate with sweets from the time of their first birthday, and the association of food with love will continue throughout life—and in some belief systems, into the afterlife. … Even when times are tough, the urge to celebrate endures. In the Antarctic in 1902, during Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition, the men prepared a fancy meal for Midwinter Day, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Hefty provisions had been brought on board. Forty-five live sheep were slaughtered and hung from the rigging, frozen by the elements until it was time to feast. The cold, the darkness, and the isolation were forgotten for a while. "With such a dinner." Scott wrote, "we agreed that life in the Antarctic Regions was worth living."