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However the concept of social dining goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. The meal was a way of showing off status with the furniture and seating arrangement being very symbolic of this. Higher than their hosts were seated guests, with everyone eating from long trestle tables, seated at benches. Food was served on a large piece of bread called a trencher. The trencher was typically eaten at the end of the meal.

Seating closest to the host which typically reserved for the gentry and nobles of European society. This social pecking order at meals changed during the reign of Henry the Eighth. The long tables became shorter and people began to use individual chairs that were more suitable for smaller parlor rooms with smaller groups of diners. Over time the location of the kitchen became adjacent to the eating area to make it easier for food to be served, Whereas in the Middle Ages the kitchen was on a level lower than the grand hall and the meals had to be Carried to the upstairs hall .

Dining room furniture has changed in recent decades, from the more formal Victorian wooden furniture to modern minimalist furniture that reflects the less formal dining experience of today.