The Labor We Expect, Not Acknowledge Every holiday table rests on quiet labor. Before the gathering, before the candles are lit, before anyone says grace or lifts a glass, hands are already working. They plan. They shop. They chop, knead, stir, lift, taste, and clean. They carry the weight of the meal for days before it becomes an event. Yet this labor is rarely named. Food is treated as if it magically appears and as though abundance is a natural condition rather than the re