Good Soil Forum 2024 Cooks Up Kitchen Table Talk Just in Time For Juneteenth 

Before modern society drove us to 18-hour days, 17 extra-curricular activities, all to be completed between working a 9-to-5 and a 6-to-midnight (because apparently you aren’t really working if you don’t have four side-hustles), dinner time at the kitchen table was the central meeting point in the American home. This table, at one point, served not only as a permanent home to grandma’s 67-year-old KitchenAid mixer, but also as prime real estate for family meals, late-night homework sessions, and maybe even the occasional Spades and Uno battle.  Today, nightly family dinners are on the decline, and, well, there may not even be a kitchen table in the average family home. In fact, studies show that while up to 84% of parents say family meals are important, only around 50% report actually having them together most nights.  Still, before America’s changing lifestyles drove a shift in household composition and an intense level of individualism, family meals around the kitchen table provided a dedicated time to connect and share stories, news, and experiences, strengthening family bonds and creating lasting memories. But, more than the open communication that took place around the table, it served as a springboard for discussing important topics, from...