Let's eat!
The shared meal, a remedy for loneliness.

Eating together matters as much for wellbeing as income or employment. Good news: in Morocco, it is already a tradition. We just need to protect it.

The 2025 World Happiness Report ranks the shared meal among the main indicators of wellbeing. In countries where people most often eat together, they feel better supported and less lonely. In Senegal, Gambia, Malaysia or Paraguay, people share 11 meals or more a week. In the United States, one person in four now eats every meal alone.

What science says

Eating together activates the endorphin system, linked to pleasure, trust and attachment. In older people, shared meals reduce sadness and loneliness. In teenagers, a study published in Clinical Nutrition shows less stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms in those who regularly eat in company.

At the office too

Lunch gulped down in front of a screen costs more than it seems. Psychologists suggest rethinking the lunch break at work. A shared table, a real break, a healthy meal: it is a dose of energy for the whole team.

Source: National Geographic, “Sharing meals, the key to better mental health”, 9 November 2026, based on the 2025 World Happiness Report.