So for the voice of the common stereotype -- Eating alone makes me feel intensely lonely. I can deal with it for lunch when I just need to be out of the office for SOME reason in the middle of the day. But for dinner I get depressed just thinking about eating alone in a restaurant. I don't FEEL like I got this from media but... I can't, I suppose, rule it out.

An interesting tidbit on food as social experience -- "Companion" is derived from latin cum -- with, and panis -- bread. Your companions are literally those with whom you break bread.