The meal prepared alone becomes shared before the first plate reaches the table.

Cooking for other people is already a form of company. The choosing, the remembering that one of them does not eat fish, the timing built around when somebody gets in: all of that is attention directed outward, hours before anyone sits down. By the time the food arrives the work of caring is largely finished. This is why cooking for someone can feel warm even when the eating together turns out to be brief and distracted.

If you cook for people, notice the part that happens before they arrive. And if someone cooks for you, thank them for the afternoon rather than only for the meal.