Last night I made an 8" x 8" pan of cornbread using a gluten-free mix (with other types of flours, like rice and potato, instead of wheat for that part of the recipe). It's a sweet cornbread, and takes a lot longer to bake than the box says, but it's tasty. And a lot for one person, so I cut it in quarters and took a quarter to my elderly neighbors across the street and we visited about various topics, then I took a quarter to the not elderly but older neighbors next door, and we visited about various things. I took her the box so she could see the contents because he is on a diet low in the foods that his kidneys use to make stones.

I didn't really need to take food to go check on them, but it always makes for a more well-rounded conversation. And I won't be eating the entire pan of bread by myself. (I got home from next-door to find my ex's car in the driveway; since I'd left the door unlocked and the gate open, he'd headed in to visit with the dogs until I got back, and he also had some cornbread with tea.)

Food (whatever you have on hand) is a great way to initiate and sustain conversations. It's probably how we will eventually achieve world peace.