To respond to richard's part first, I definately agree on the issue of home cooked food, mostly due to a few things I have learned about food preparation along my path in becoming a chemical engineer. I remember particularly when Frito Lay presented on the concept of "food extrusion." Basically, you take water and steam and force them through a small hole at high temperature and pressure, and you can make almost every snack food you can find in a convenience store. I've no doubt that the same is done with certain kinds of meat, since pre-prepared, pre-shaped chicken and beef do have that strange homogeneous texture to them.
While I'm not married yet, this summer I experimented with making my own food instead of subscribing to the campus dining hall, and I found that I not only felt healthier, but happier. Maybe it's from the fresh food, or maybe the act of making it, but cooking on your own is definitely something I'd recommend. Also, I've experimented with spices and on the display of food on the plate, and sometimes small efforts come off as highly impressive; one example being cutting an apple into slices, placing them in a circle and sprinking cinnamon on them. Stuff like that impresses people to no end.
And to alpha male's comment on families eating together, my family has quit doing so now because my sister and I are at college, but beforehand we ate togeter a few times a week, and almost every day when we were young. Also, have you noticed Pizza Hut's new marketing campaign? The last time we ordered delivery the box had a list of questions that families could ask each other to start a conversation. I was impressed by it, to say the least.
