At least for us, yes those activities do help make our relationship closer. I'm not sure about Dotsie's marriage, but for myself, I do know truly what it means to live apart from a loved one, temporarily for long period time.

Jack and I have had a spell of 2.5 years within our nearly 17-yr. long relationship, where we each lived in different cities, separated by over 3,000 kms. The convenient mechanisms of every day communication do become quite important and what one talks about with one another is important too.

Just the act of cooking together daily is precious, did not occur regularily, when I lived and owned my condo in Toronto..since I made a decision not to move in with him at the time after his divorce.

And yes, Dotsie, some of the enjoyable stuff, involved eating together. I'm not convinced I would enjoy the company of guy, if he was highly conservative in his tastes if it wasn't based on any medical/religious restrictions. I actually would think he was abit of prude. I could never forget meeting a couple --she was East Indian and her hubby, Caucasian. He hated eating anything that was curry. I mean...really...that is the heart of East Indian cooking spicy/joie de vivre.

Come to think of it, a clue to guy's cultural flexibility especially if he wasn't Chinese that I assessed, first began on his natural range of culinary tastes. Part of becoming a well-integrated couple...particularily if it's intercultural and interracial, is basic appreciation of each other's key cultural difference. And food....is important...because it's a daily thing.