"Humans still crave connection, even with strangers and acquaintances. Dinner parties are a great way to satisfy that craving, especially the ones that engage guests to the point of no distraction. The food becomes a conversational lubricant: an edible filler for awkward silences and a topic of discussion in itself. Meanwhile, common dining interactions like passing plates and pouring drinks are extensions of that conversation as opposed to interruptions. "However, dinner parties like this require two things: friends or family, and a sizable living space—things taken for granted in generations past, but are not a given today."