Have you ever noticed that food tastes best after a five-mile hike or when you share it with people you love? I know this for a fact because the worst meal I ever prepared was for my husband’s ex-girlfriend.
Shared meals nourish us not only with calories but because we are given the time to sit and really connect. I don’t think the subject of conversation is even important: the roasted brussel sprouts, the 20 % off sale at Wayfair, the weather, “when I was a kid,” aging parents, or Lady Gaga’s dress for the Oscars. It’s the togetherness that counts.
I realized, over the holidays, that the table setting plays a hand in this. It can be the conversations starter and tell a story all its own— about your aunt’s crochet edged napkins, or the tulips from your garden. It can be about mismatched plates and thrift store wine glasses or the stain on the tablecloth near where GG Pat once sat in her wheelchair. A table set with your heart can inspire laughter, tears, and honest dialogue.
I have friends who think they aren’t creative and tell me they could never do what I do when it comes to setting the table. So, I’ve decided that this blog is part how-to. How to set a table that talks:
- Give yourself time. Build your table story the day before. Iron the tablecloth (or just throw it across the table and let gravity release the wrinkles). Create a centerpiece. Play around with the dishes and glasses like a kid with toys in the sandbox.
- Create a theme based on the season, the event, a color, the fruits of foraging in your backyard, your mother’s wedding silver, or a favorite collection of bottles. Use unusual stuff like brightly labeled cans from the pantry or sticks and stones you picked up on a hike. Most importantly, let the table setting be an extension of you.
- Break the rules. You may want to keep the fork to the left and the knife to the right, but don’t worry about matching your china or using linen napkins. Utilitarian dishtowels do the job just as well. And mason jars are great for iced tea.
- Keep it on the low. It’s tempting to put tall branches in a vase like you see in minimalist décor magazines, but for dinner conversation, this look is a pain in the butt. Keep your table décor below chin level, so guests can see eye-to-eye.
- Bring out the good stuff. You may be serving pizza from a box, but why not do it on the gold-rimmed china that sits in the hutch day after day, year after year? The most terrible thing that could happen is that you break a soup dish or have a mound of dirty dishes that must be hand-washed. But isn’t that what kids and non-cooking significant others are for?
Truly, don’t hold back. Don’t be intimidated. Your table is your stage, your white canvas, your blank page. Set your table and tell your story…
… because table talk makes everything taste better.
I always have liked the mix and match idea. Also like using souvenirs from my travels. Even if it is just lovely shells or rocks or items given to me by former students.
I am going to borrow this idea.
I have been blessed to partake in many meals over the years where the cooking and table setting were done by Heide. A properly set table shows your guests that you care about them and makes any meal from a simple breakfast to a Thanksgiving feast special.
And you will continue to partake for ever and ever.
Heide, you do it right. I love your ideas and style.
Thank you. It is fun to share good news.
I am totally on board with keeping table decorations below chin level. It’s hard to have conversation when it feels like you are looking through a tall-grass prairie to see the person across the table.
Exactly.