Quarantine Dinner Anyone?

Quarantine dinners

The lights are dim, the table is set: linen napkins wrapped on silver napkin rings facing wine glasses, my family is all dressed up as my father puts the dinner on the table: a variety of cheeses from all around the world. We all sit, and for a split second I forget what COVID, quarantine and self-isolation (words that circle through my mind throughout the entire day) mean- I suddenly seem to leave my home, leave the world I am stuck on, we are stuck on. 

I think you can agree that there’s nothing better than meeting friends for coffee or having dinner at a nice restaurant, or just going to the movies. But during quarantine dressing up to go out seems to be a far-flung memory from the past; nonetheless, I refuse to deprive myself from my favorite activity- you shouldn’t either. 

But I realized that it wasn’t exactly going out that I missed; it was all the things I got to do because I was going out. COVID has stopped me from leaving the house, but it has not stopped me from the pleasure I get from dressing up, eating good food and toasting to another day that’s been lived.  Every week my family and I arrange two nights where we all dress up and share a special meal, we call it quarantine dinners.

Of course, everyone lives in a different home and may or may not have access to different foods, but the pleasure of dressing up and having a special meal can be made easy:  you can google easy recipes, order food or just set a nice table and eat what is more viable to you. The key of my quarantine dinners is not eating as if I was in a restaurant; rather it is feeling as if I was going out.

Don’t get me wrong I am not the only one who copes with quarantine by indulging in special meals. In an interview with Vanity Fair the artist Nicole Linh Anderson stated that “Quarantine meals are the highlight of my day, every day, and also the only way I keep track of time passing.”

Quarantine is tough, but we can always make it better. These special quarantine dinners have not only given me something to look forward to during such gloomy times, but they also give me a sense that time is passing- they are my weekends. I strongly recommend that you try having special quarantine dinners at home!

If you like this article, check out our podcast episodes: Nona Lim – How to Scale a Food Business and Elatia Abate – Embracing Change with Futurism