Great meals are remembered for who was there.

20 Mar 2026 · 0 min

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0:14

In this brief YouTube excerpt, host Donald Burns asks a guest about the best meal they've ever had. The guest argues that the most memorable meals are defined not by the food itself but by the people sharing it. Donald then shares his own favorite memory: a simple summer afternoon with his grandmother, where she harvested fresh tomatoes, sliced them, and served them on bread with mayonnaise, creating a humble tomato sandwich that he recalls as the best meal of his life. The conversation contrasts expectations of fancy restaurant experiences with the lasting impact of simple, shared moments.

What's the absolute best meal you've ever had?
That's a tough one, you know, because a lot of times at the end of the day, the best meal you've ever had really isn't even about the meal. It's about the people that you're sharing the meal with.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
So, yeah. Any, any meal?
I ask this question to owners. A lot of times they'll pick out like, you know, some fancy restaurant, like, you know, French Laundry, Per Se, you know, things like that. And I always say like the best meal I've ever had, I remember one day in the summer with my grandmother, went out to the garden, she harvested these fresh tomatoes, she brought them inside, she sliced them up, she put them on bread with just some mayonnaise. Her and I just sat there and had tomato sandwiches. And it was like the best meal I ever had in my life. Yeah.