Moratorium on DOTS (Dinner Over the Sink) Or Why You Might Want to Take Time for Meals At a Table with Others

I am not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line, people stopped sitting down for dinner. DOTS ( dinner over the sink) became a thing. Is DOTS caused by a need to eat fast? Is DOTS driven by loneliness? Is DOTS helping us avoid having to wash a tablecloth? Remember tablecloths!?

I cooked meals for my family of five two to three times a day for more than twenty years, so appreciate the appeal of a quick dinner: less work, less mess, more time for everything else. Since my last kid left home, I find deliciously liberating moment when dinner finds me at the kitchen sink, yogurt in hand, relishing the fact that the only dish left to wash is a licked-clean spoon.

(Watch a skit from Portlandia on an entire restaurant devoted to DOTS!)

As a licensed naturopathic doctor*, I know that while it’s true that what we eat is central to our overall health and a diet rich in fruit and vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats leads to best outcomes, I also tell my patients that taking time to eat meals and eating at a table with others also has health benefits.

Research shows how structured family mealtimes lead to less fussiness and food pickiness in little ones. There is an overarching…