Meals at The School of Life 

Anyone sitting down for a meal in unfamiliar company will know how difficult it can be to find something to talk about. Once you've taken your napkin off the table and introduced yourself to your partners on left and right, the search for a suitable topic begins. We're all familiar with situations in which it seems impossible to build up a mutually satisfying conversation. A range of topics - a forthcoming election, a pregnancy, the weather - are picked up and dropped. A mild panic sets in. Silences grow. A diminishing bread basket provides only a measure of cover.

At The School of Life we think that knowing how to have entertaining and meaningful conversations is a skill worth practising. So we regularly host meals in which strangers (just as initially hesitant, shy, and yet curious as you are) come together in unusual settings, agree to lay aside their inhibitions and explore experiences, ideas, regrets and aspirations. We provide diners with a specially-designed conversation menu, an easy to use guide that helps you get the most from talking to a stranger. Expect the sort of stimulating and heart-warming conversations we have all dreamt of having, but so rarely do.

"There are tasks to accomplish, aphorisms to discuss with the aperitif, questions to bat across the table with a stranger through dinner, postcards to ponder over dessert. It has the potential to be excruciating, but actually it’s tremendous fun." Nina Caplan, Features Editor, Time Out. Read her article here.