Savory Questions for Meaningful Meals
Owner Michael Liang is also a trained facilitator and educator. He believes that food is a powerful tool for building human connection, especially when paired with great conversations.
Below are some prompts to help spark rich dialogue at your next gathering.
Note: these are presented in categories that might be part of an overall arc of a conversation. Think of them as sequential courses, each building upon the last. Pick and choose the ones that feel right for your group. Be particularly careful with category #3 “Questions that Require Trust and Safety”; not all meals or guests may get to this point, and that’s okay! Great conversations, like great meals, shouldn’t be rushed.
Questions for Starting
What is your earliest food memory?
What food is on your bucket list?
If you could invite two guests to this meal, whom would you invite?
What is your favorite comfort food?
What food do you always bring on a road trip or airplane?
What food can you make without a recipe?
What food from your past do you miss and can no longer find?
What food smell always reminds you of home?
Cilantro: love or loathe?
Sweet or savory?
Cook, baker, or eater?
If you had an unlimited travel budget to visit a favorite restaurant, where would you go?
If you could take a 36-hour food-inspired trip, where would you go? What if you had 3 days? 1 week? 1 month?
How does your eating change with the seasons?
Is there any food that you love to grow?
2. Questions for Learning
What food connects you to your heritage?
What would you change about the food industry?
Are there good foods and bad foods?
What food has your partner/friends/kids/coworkers introduced to you?
How has travel changed your relationship with food?
What food do you always eat for [holiday]?
As a host or cook, what behavior of guests do you find offensive?
As a guest, what should hosts know about your dietary needs or preferences?
What food traditions do you hope we keep alive 100 years from now? Are there any that we should abandon?
If you could revisit a special meal from your past, where would you go?
Are you or have you ever been a vegan or vegetarian? What inspired that decision?
What concerns do you have about the future of food?
3. Questions that Require Trust and Safety
How has your thinking about food and health changed over the years?
What role did elders play in your eating habits growing up?
How do your political views shape your food choices?
How does religion or non-religion inform your relationship with food?
How has changes in income affected your buying and eating habits?
4. Questions for Closing
Is there anything unsaid that you want to share before leaving the table?
Who do you wish was part of this conversation?
What was shared that has changed your thinking?
What did you learn about yourself from this conversation?