Growing up, my family always had dinner at the table. My mom often made home-cooked meals and I had to sit there until I ate five more bites of my green beans or fell asleep…whichever came first. Usually, sleep did. Occasionally, we got to eat TV dinners and watch our favorite shows.

Even though I come from a “broken home,” as people call it when your parents’ divorce, we always carried the value of family dinners with our parents, even if it was eating something as simple as hamburger helper.

Holidays were always my favorite because we got to be around our closest family members while eating the most delicious foods. There have been very few holidays where I wasn’t in attendance because my family instilled into me that these were important parts of our lives. As a younger woman, I didn’t hold that value as close to my heart as I do now.

As an adult living on my own with family spread all over, it’s not as easy for me to have those same family nights. Instead, it’s usually my boyfriend and I cooking or going out to dinner occasionally with my family. I sometimes miss the nights when my entire family would be around the table.

I usually go to my boyfriend’s family’s house on weekends, where we have many amazing meals together. I love how they pray, laugh and genuinely care about each other, and myself. I admit I’m nervous to help in the kitchen, but I do enjoy setting the table and cleaning up. I also love how welcoming they are to have so many people over; they have never turned down someone who wanted a seat at the table. 

My experiences at the family table, whether that be my family’s or someone else’s, have shaped the person I am today. I want those to become the example set in the industry. I don’t care what your diet is, I just want you to know that there is a seat at the world’s table for everyone to eat what they want. To laugh and genuinely care about each other. It always has, and it always will take many kinds of agriculture and food production methods to provide enough food for this world.  There are so many people in this world and this battle of what is worse for the environment, what is healthier and who is more compassionate towards animals is exhausting. I know there are people out there who rely on conventional foods, there are cultures where meat is a staple in the diet, there are allergies to dairy and gluten, there are starving people who need cheap and accessible protein to survive, there are families who care for and raise the livestock they consume, there are those that rely on school programs to feed their children.

There are so many of us and having one specific diet won’t possibly work for everyone- and no one can force it to work. Someone’s opinion doesn’t matter to the single mom who is looking to provide her kids healthy foods, or the cancer patient who has to eat whatever they can during treatment, or the homeless shelter who takes donations for whatever they can get, or the suburban mom who is insecure of all the pressures society puts on her to make sure she feeds her family non-GMO.

What matters is that you allow laughter, memories, compassion, and thankfulness to grow at your table. Life is so short and there is so much real evil in this world; your dietary choices don’t make you a bad person. When you open your door and hearts to people with different views, you are creating a stronger society and one that is better at solving the difficult issues that are harming humanity.

You’re always welcome at my table.