Maddi Vestrum’s friendships in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood began with kombucha, deviled eggs and themed dishes — staples of monthly neighbourhood potlucks.
“I feel way more connected,” the 29-year-old artist says. “I hope [those connections] would have [happened] without the potluck, but potluck just made it easy. It was a doorway to be able to share and be closer, or at least just more aware of, my neighbours.”
Vestrum moved to the Vancouver neighbourhood, known for its beaches and historic homes, in 2021. Working from home in a one-bedroom, basement apartment made meeting — and hosting — friends difficult.
Everything changed when Vestrum started attending monthly potlucks at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House. The charity runs various programs — including clubs for children and teens and a seniors’ meal program — to foster relationships among neighbourhood residents.
Good social connections have long been recognized as a key contributor to personal happiness. But the 2025 World Happiness Report, released last month, identified another key factor to personal happiness: eating meals with others.
According to the study, the number of shared meals a person has a week is a better indicator of their personal happiness than their employment and income combined.
“Asking people if they shared at least one meal last week can tell us more about their overall life evaluation than knowing if they are unemployed,” the study says. “Or relatedly, knowing how many meals someone shared last week can tell us more about their positive emotions than their income.”
The shared meals Vestrum attends attract vastly different people. The 30 to 50 potluck attendees range in age and income. Some likely need the potluck to reduce food insecurity. Some just want to eat with others.
“I love that we all mingle and get to know each other,” Vestrum said.
Shared meals prioritized in North America
Overall, Canadians’ happiness is declining, a Statistics Canada report last September showed.
The World Happiness Report ranked Canada as the 18th happiest country in 2024, down from its peak of fifth place in 2014.
In terms of shared meals, Canada ranks 53rd among the 142 countries studied. On average, Canadians share 8.4 meals a week. The U.S. and U.K. rank 69th and 81st respectively, with Americans sharing just under eight meals a week and U.K. residents sharing 7.5.
People were happiest when they shared 13 meals a week, the report says.
The report does not say if the number of Canadians sharing meals has declined in recent years. But it does note that North Americans in general value sharing meals more than other regions.
“The relationship between sharing meals and well-being appears to be particularly strong in North America, Australia, and New Zealand,” the report says. “In these countries, the differences in well-being between those who eat more or fewer meals alone is greater than for any other region.”
The report says it is unclear whether sharing meals merely correlates with greater happiness, or actually causes it.
Creating connectedness
Sharing meals has a greater positive impact on younger people than those over 65.
“When we compare young people who dine alone to young people who share meals, we find much greater differences in life evaluations and positive affect than we do for older adults,” the report says.
Family meals have specifically been shown to benefit young people. Research shows that children who regularly eat with their families at home are less likely to develop eating and substance use disorders and more likely to report higher self-esteem.
“The connectedness that we’re creating from the family meal, that seems to be the most important,” said Danielle Battram, a home economist and professor of food and health sciences at Western University in London, Ont.
Children learn communication skills at family meals — even when not everyone gets along, says Margo Hilbrecht, executive director of the Vanier Institute of the Family.
“Everything is not going to be perfect all the time, but this is a good opportunity to learn how to deal with conflict,” she said.
Family meals are good for children’s physical health, too. Children eat more nutritious food when they eat meals with their families rather than eating at restaurants, home economists say.
The biggest barrier to families eating together is not lack of access to healthy food, but lack of time.
“People want their kids involved in all kinds of things, just to give them that leg up,” said Karla Fehr, a home economist and high school teacher in Altona, Man. “You want your kids to have opportunities and to do all these things, but that then leads to a family that’s going in five different directions at the same time.”
Not every family will be able to eat together every day, she says. But families should make a habit of eating together when they can.
That includes making sure technology — especially phones — is not at the dinner table. Technology “undermines the enjoyment of in-person interactions,” said Hilbrecht.
That matters, because people enjoy food more when they eat with others.
“The more meals we share with other people, the more we seem to enjoy them,” the World Happiness Report says.
‘Cold way of being’
Cameron Carr says he can taste love every time he bites into a piece of lasagna at Coastview apartments.
The Vancouver apartment building is run by Coast Mental Health, an organization that supports people living with mental illnesses.
Coastview residents, who must be 55 or older, have their own suites with kitchens, but the residence provides dinner in a communal dining room every day and breakfast three days a week. Most residents go to these meals.
Carr, 64, attends nearly every dinner.
“We all have psychiatric disabilities,” said Carr, who has schizophrenia. “We notice when someone cares, when they don’t, and it shows in [the chef’s] food.”
That chef is Cherie Wyatt, who has worked at Coastview for nine years. During COVID-19, residents had to eat all their meals in their rooms. Residents would line up, six feet apart, to get their meal. The most socializing staff could do was a cheerful greeting or short conversation.
The isolation took a toll on the residents’ mental health and happiness, says Wyatt. But since shared meals began again, she has seen a clear difference.
“It is kind of the highlight of the day,” she said. “They wait every week for me to put up the menu and discuss the menu with each other. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Carr says sharing meals with others can be hard at first. “People with [schizophrenia] tend to isolate themselves,” he said.
He describes himself — and many of the residents — as introverted, sometimes socially awkward. But he wants his friends to not be alone. And he wants Wyatt to know he enjoys her food.
“When you eat alone, you’re going to be chronically alone and chronically lonely in some ways,” he said. “It’s a very cold way of being when you can’t share food with other people. Our society is lacking warmth as it is.”
