Aw, I'm long distance from most of my family and friends for a while so I get this. Definitely the distraction with a book or TV. I also sometimes try to casually let housemates know what I'm planning on cooking just so they can join if they're interested and around, or plan for some kind of other interaction to look forward to after the meal, like a Skype call with someone at home or drink with an acquaintance here.

I live alone so I generally eat solo. I don't mind most of the time but yes sometimes I wish I had someone to cook for and eat with. I always read and have the tv on because I don't like silence. I enjoy my work mealtimes and coffee breaks because it's really the only time
I eat with others.

I've never understood why eating alone is a bad thing. I suppose I'd understand if it was an issue because you are always alone and eating in a restaurant is just one more occasion without friends or family but baring that case why is it so bad? Do you think people judge you? I can guarantee you people don't think about you that much. Eat alone. Enjoy your meal. Relax.

A good book or magazine! It's a must. Yeah, yeah, I know. You're not supposed to be distracted while eating cause you'll eat more, blah, blah. I love sitting down to a meal with a good book. And no, I never feel like I overeat. My biggest problem is that my food gets cold because I'm so distracted by the book! I travel occasionally for my job and eat out in restaurants. Then I try to pick places where you can eat outdoors and I sit and watch the traffic go by. Or in places where it tends to be a little busy which gives you plenty to watch

I just started working an opposite schedule from my husband, so I'm eating lunch alone at our house most days.

I've never minded eating alone at my desk during the workday or anything like that, but this is kinda lonely. I think it's because I'm also alone before and after the meal.

I'm on a rotation between tv, music and books.

I eat most of my meals alone. A meal by yourself every so often can be enjoyable, but when it's meal after meal after meal, it's hard. Sometimes I invite friends over and cook for them. Most often though, I just prop my feet up on the chair across the table and sit with a good book.

I really don't mind it. I get to make exactly what I want. Eat at whatever slow pace I want (I eat really slow to the chagrine of others). I will read a book, watch a show, maybe chat on AIM with my long distance boyfriend.

"Books are excellent companions and there are have been many meals in my life that were enhanced by their company." -- This about sums it up for me! :)

I never did mind eating alone. Sometimes, it makes me enjoy the meal more.

I'm not coordinated enough to eat food and read a book. Some days are exceptions, but I just can't seem to keep the pages open and shovel food into my mouth at the same time. Magazines are a little bit easier to read while eating, though I mostly watch a lot of TV so my hands can focus on food consumption.

The only time I'm plagued by this is when I'm exhausted from working all day (pastry chef) and I wish I had someone at home who has made a wonderful, comforting meal, has cleaned the house, and has the laundry done. It's not from loneliness, but just wishing I had someone to take care of it for me because I just want to eat and go to bed. Like a butler or a house-husband or something.

But I am also a social eater, so I do dine out with friends when our schedules permit.

I just hate it when I whip something up that turns out to be amazing and there's no one there to witness it. And when I try to recreate it for someone, it's never quite as good. It's a conspiracy.

@ILLUMINATEDPST, this is the best quality of e-readers. All you need to do is prop them up and then it's so easy to read while you eat.

I like to read The Kitchn while I eat! Not so much because I need to think about other foods while I'm eating, but because if I'm lonely, I like 'being around' like-minded people who are appreciative of food.

@PHD2BPOLISCI: I agree with you and because I think this is important, I'm jumping in to clarify and emphasize that I do not think eating alone is inherently bad or a problem. I state this several times in my post because again, I think this is an important point. Even so, eating solo can bring up feelings of loneliness for people. How we work with that emotional event has a big influence not only on the meal we are eating, but the rest of our day as well. So I think its important to acknowledge loneliness when we feel it and deal with it as skillfully as possible. The purpose of my post was to offer a few suggestions on how to do this.

Love your comment Cooklyn ! I love eating alone, I don't like talking much when I eat ;-). But I love it when I have company, more to be the hostess and plan the meal rather than for the act of eating together. Although I'm avid reader, and an avid eater (!), I can't do both at the same time. A good series episode is always welcome !

I've never really thought about eating alone as lonely. I find cooking relaxing so I enjoy eating the spoils of my labor. I WOULD enjoy having someone else do the dishes though.

I eat alone every day and never feel lonely.

When I was in law school I ate alone most nights and sometimes it got lonely. Mostly on Sundays when I had been out grocery shopping and seeing everyone else with their families. Now I'm unemployed (yay for that law degree) and back with my parents and I have to say - sometimes I miss making a simple dinner for one (like scambled eggs and toast) and watching tv and drinking wine by myself. I guess the grass is always greener!

Eric Clapton usually eats with me some nights, and sometimes Neil Young. It's relaxing to sit down and enjoy a meal that you have put some creativity into while you listen to some great music. This is how I usually dine when I'm alone.

Sort of echoing the user who mentioned making a Skype call after dinner, I often would plan to eat a meal over Skype with my family. I even Skyped in for Thanksgiving last year. The two hour time difference isn't so bad that I can't eat a couple hours early, so usually I'll let my folks know in advance that I'd like to have a Skype dinner, and then we each put our laptops on the dinner table. It's not quite a family dinner, but it's close.

I've envied those who comfortably dine alone in public - who seem relaxed and content. When I recently traveled abroad alone, I decided to be one of those relaxed diners and it was wonderful, and now I really savor those occasional solo meals out.

I consider eating alone--especially in a restaurant--a good time! I love to watch people, relax and think, or just concentrate completely on the food.

i hate eating alone. when at home, i eat on the couch watching tv, or outside. i hate sitting at my dining table and looking at all of the empty chairs around me. this is why i am selling my big dining table and getting a smaller one.

i once read in a french cookbook the ideal places for the number of people:
for one person, on the couch or outside like a picnic
for two people, at a cafe
for many people, around a big dining table at home

lot to be said for that

i enjoy eating alone at home. It's an opportunity to play with recipes and make things that I would enjoy. I like my own company and don't feel like i need the distraction of a TV (in fact, I don't have one) or a book. I like to eat my food and concentrate on the flavors, the textures, and the experience. Cooking for others is fun - as i like to share my bounty as well - but I like the freedom of not having to consult with someone else on the menu, or risk them not enjoying my cooking. I don't like eating out alone, although I've gotten more comfortable with it recently.

Lots of wine. Heh. I like to make a special meal for myself every once in a while. And I'll go the whole 9 yards with candlelight, a beautiful bottle of wine, nice dinner, etc. I enjoy it. I admit that sometimes, by the time I end up going to this much trouble, I think "I'm going to call so & so and invite them over!"

I've never thought of eating as entertainment..it's a necessity so it doesn't bother me to eat alone.

I don't like to eat alone but circumstances being what they are, I eat alone more than I care to. If I'm eating at a restaurant, I usually take my iPad and read. What's really difficult us getting the waiter to pay any attention to you. I've had to go hunt them down on more than one occasion.
It would be great if more restaurants would provide communal tables like they have in Italy. You sit with people you don't know and actually TALK to them. Incredible. But here in the US, I've only had that experience once at K-Paul's in NOLA. Met a couple from
Massachusetts and had a very nice dinner. It wouldn't have to be compulsory. I'd just like to have an option.

I don't get the feeling-lonely-when-eating-alone thing at all. If you enjoy food and enjoy preparing meals, I don't see why eating alone should be any more "lonely" than doing anything else alone. I love eating alone, whether at home or at a restaurant. I also love eating with others—food in any circumstance is to be relished. I'm just guessing, but I wonder if people who feel lonely when eating alone simply feel lonely in general... :-/

Before I was married, I often would invite a friend over for an impromptu meal - sometimes as it was cooking and I realized I had made way too much. It wasn't that I was lonely as much as I just enjoyed feeding other people! I have an Italian nana somewhere in me.

I love eating alone, as well as with others, and am so sick of the meme that solo dining is inevitably (not always, but sometimes) sad or lonely! I have never felt the need to come up with "coping mechanisms" for solo meals. The whole "poor you, you have to eat alone sometimes" idea reminds me of people who ask why you aren't married, or don't have kids, or whatever lifestyle choice they don't understand.

I don't like to eat and talk so I prefer to dine alone at home or in restaurants. At home, I watch TV, listen to music or just savor the meal in silence. In restaurants, I read books on my phone, do the NYT crossword puzzle or people-watch.

love the comments. i will definitely plan to go out and eat alone at a restaurant this week. I haven't done this since , god knows when.....

Plus I agree with Whalermeg. eat what i want when i want. like now, eating jellybeans at 12:16 for dinner because i had a really late late lunch....

I live by myself, so when I eat, I either am in front of the computer or the tv or reading a book.

And when you have 2 cats, as I do, even if you don't have a book or other media handy, you're unlikely to be bored or lonely when eating, because there's nothing like sitting down at a table with a plate of aromatic home cooking to get a cat's attention, especially when one of the cats is a chubby male tabby with a doglike interest in food and the eternal (but futile) hope that he will one day be able to supplement his cat food (and part of his sister's cat food) with some people food..

I tend to regard food as body-fuel to keep me alive, and living and working at home I normally eat three meals a day alone. So a couple of golden rules:
- always prepare a 'proper meal', nicely presented, with wine etc if appropriate. No eating beans out of the can, for example.
- have another distraction while I eat - TV, internet, book etc as suggested. Otherwise I find I can down a meal in less than 10 minutes, a bit like a dog at its bowl.

I've lived alone and eaten alone and it used to sometimes make me lonely. Here's advice from someone who has been there and found a way to move on. You need to change your expectations. If you didn't have a strong inner expectation that meal times = socialization time, you wouldn't give a second thought to eating alone and enjoying your meals. Cultural conditioning is strong, but sometimes it just doesn't make logical good since. For example, if you grew up in a culture that declared hair combing to be a social, family and friend oriented event, you'd feel desperately lonely every time you combed your hair alone. As it is, you (I'm assuming) don't think twice about combing your hair alone. You don't feel lonely or like some kind of loser social pariah every time you pick up your comb. As they say, change your thinking and change your life. I still live alone and I enjoy my meals. Sometimes I eat in the kitchen, sometimes in the living room and sometimes, especially on rainy nights or on snowy days when I don't have to be anywhere, I climb into bed with a few good books (hay, you don't want to get up if you want another book), a thermos (ditto with the hot drinks), maybe a pitcher of cold drinks on the night stand and my dinner, desert, phone (maybe, maybe not) and remote. Then I snuggle in and enjoy. Give it a try. Don't compare your life with what pop culture has decreed is the right way to live. Enjoy your life as it is and your friends where you find them. They don't have to be at the dinner table to be a vital part of your life. Enjoy and best of luck.

Learning to cook for one and eat alone was one of the harder things about becoming a widow. Not the hardest, obviously, but something that still bothers me eight years later.

What helps - laptop (I sometimes read my blog feed if dinner is not too messy or complex), good books, music, giving myself permission to open a bottle of wine (and I'm loving that there are smaller bottle and more decent boxed wines now - a blessing for singles).

I try to make at least some evening meals special - I set the table with the real silver and better china, and put a bit more effort into the cooking. Just because you are eating alone doesn't mean you should not eat well.