Guess who's coming to dinner? Surveying Digital Commensality During Covid-19 Outbreak

Eating together is one of the most treasured human activities. Its benefits range from improving the taste of food to mitigating the feelings of loneliness. In 2020, many countries have adopted lock-down and social distancing policies, forcing people to stay home, often alone and away from families and friends. Although technology can help connecting those that are physically distant, it is not clear whether eating together, at the same moment via video-call, is effective in creating the sense of connectedness that comes with sharing a meal with a friend or a family member in person. In this work, we report the results of an online survey on remote eating practices during Covid-19 lock-down, exploring the psychological motivations behind remote eating and behind deciding not to. Moreover, we sketch how future technologies could help creating digital commensality experiences.