Gustavo Arellano

The late Los Angeles Times food critic Jonathan Gold — who died this past weekend from pancreatic cancer at age 57 — had the ability to cause two types of stampedes. The first one was nearly instantaneous, as readers of his reviews and listeners of Good Food (the radio show based out of public radio station KCRW-FM 89.9 in Santa Monica, California, where Gold offered recommendations for 20 years) flocked to his restaurant choice of the week.

Images and stories of Central American families split apart at the border have become the topic of conversation for families of all ethnicities over the past month. But how do parents handle such a delicate subject with their children at dinner? More than breakfast or lunch — almost always rushed affairs where conversations lean toward the superficial or mundane — dinner is what anchors families as a unit and as individuals.