During feminist art explorations the seventies, reclaiming daily acts of women’s lives included looking at shared rituals such as dinner parties and other social gatherings. In the early 1900s labor movements women took these simple rituals such as birthday parties as a way to organizer workers with “song and celebration” and other expressions of community.

Dinners, such as Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party,” Mary Beth Edelson’s “The Last Dinner,” and _________”My Dinner with Andre” were commemorated in visual as well as performative forms and continue to this day in the work of artists such as Lee Ming Wei.

Lacy has used this form in many large scale performances—some formalized such as Dinner at Jane’s (see Full Circle), and others more improvisational such as River Meetings. All, however, are characterized by a combination of ritual, real food, and politics.