Looks like the French are drinking less wine and some are concerned:
For many years people have been steadily abandoning what in our French sociology we referred to as the repas, or meal, by which I mean a convivial gathering around a table, and not the individualised, accelerated version we see today.
The traditional family meal is withering away. Instead we have a purely technical form of nourishment, whose aim is to make sure we fuel up as effectively and as quickly as possible.
When the French start showing increased rates of heart disease, I’m sure some will blame it on the decrease in dietary resveratrol. Me, I suspect it will have a lot to do with the decrease of social connection via the meal as “convivial gathering.”
HT Steve Parker for the link (via his blog).
Weight Maven is written by Beth Mazur. Beth believes that obesity is more symptom than cause and that the real problem is our Western diet -- especially sugar, refined grains, and industrial oils. Beth writes about nutrition, ancestral health, & food policy. And cats! 
And I think it will have a lot to do with increased amounts of calories.
Oh, I completely agree with your assessment about the alteration in social amenities involved with shared meals. We under estimate the wonderful benefits of relaxed living as creatures closely knitted to the natural world, and we over estimate the importance of efficiency. There is no substitution for shared pleasure. Doesn’t matter if the meal consists of black beans and rice or pizza, as long as the focus remains on the shared pleasure of being alive and having enough food to go around. We need each other. When we forget that, and focus only on the macro and micro nutrients, we fail as human creatures who depend on each other as members of our tribe. Meals are a little celebration of life—an acknowledgment that we are still here…TOGETHER. :) Pleasure in sharing good and abundant food as a group is irreplaceable.