Getting invited to a friend’s family dinner is a promotion from friend to almost-cousin.

An invitation to a family table moves you out of the social category and into the household one. Friends get met at the door; people who eat with the family get seen in the unedited version, with the arguing and the kitchen nobody tidied. Letting you see that is a kind of trust that does not get announced. It also means somebody in the house vouched for you.

Turn up with something, even bread, and offer to clear. Learn the names of everybody at the table, including the grandparent who says little. And treat what you see in that house as private, because it was shown to you alone.