(Source: University of Connecticut) This year, as you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with family, you need not worry when Auntie Marie starts to squabble with Grandpa. She is not disrupting the family bonds, she is cementing them. At their most obvious, feasts serve to provision guests and to celebrate or commemorate special events. Feasts, however, also play much more subtle social roles. In particular, they serve as the social glue that holds communities together by smoothing tensions, forging alliances, creating shared memories, and exchanging information, according to Natalie Munro, professor of anthropology. This year when you sit down to...
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