My immediate family and I say grace before lunch and dinner. I never wondered why not breakfast – you’ve given me something to consider! hahaha.
If together, we hold hands, even in public. We say a quiet prayer. If at another person’s home, we will forego the hand holding and pray silently to ourselves individually-- quickly as to not intrude on the host’s hospitality or other guests’ time.
For guests in the home, they generally know our religious affiliation. I lightly mention to them that it’s our custom to hold hands and say grace before a meal. I know it might be a tad uncomfortable but I’m light-hearted about it and will say a quick thanksgiving prayer – and then off to our plates and conversation. We’ve had Muslim friends over – I don’t recall what we did. I think we did not pray together – although looking back at it, I think we could have made it accomodating. I’ll have to ask my wife what she remembers.
I’m in the Midwest and it’s “fairly” religious. Seeing people pray at a restaurant wouldn’t be rare.
As for @cobrat 's loud and boisterous relatives, they seem to have forgotten a lesson from Jesus in Luke 18:10-13
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee (a religious leader) and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
We say prayers wherever we are. I don’t think we’re loud or conspicuous. It is just what we do. I think I’ve been in other restaurants where others may have said prayers from time to time. But in all honesty, we’re pretty much into what we’re doing and not paying much attention to what others are saying or doing. Our family started years ago to hold hands as reminder of our friendships with each other. (If others hold hands for a different reason, I can’t say) We needed/wanted to remind ourselves we ARE friends (in some form) especially with siblings, because many of us can be in squabbles with one or another. The only thing I pay (or paid) attention to was whether my children were sitting up and engaged in what we were doing (rather than poking each other, squeezing hands too tightly, and that sort of stuff). If they said the prayer out loud or quietly it was up to them.
S would absolutely say prayers before all meals - dates included. That’s important to him. If his date was uncomfortable with it, I don’t think they’d be dating much longer/again. But who knows. I don’t think he’s been in that situation. D probably doesn’t say prayers before meals unless it’s a family gathering. But that’s a guess.
I grew up with the same prayer as @LuckyCharms913. H’s family has an extra few lines to that. When I’m with my inlaws, we add the lines. At home we don’t. Most of my siblings say it when we’re at their homes. One sibling has changed it up a bit. I couldn’t guess what they do elsewhere. Over the years, even with what we do, others will still bow their heads and I guess say/think something different. If we’re at someone else’s home, I’ll listen to their prayers and/or bow my head quietly. Generally, once everyone is finished with whatever they’re doing, someone will lift their glass and say Cheers.
Through scouts and such, there are a lot of blessings that thank the farmers and others who helped to grow and prepare the food. They also remind us to think about those who are without. They’re generally non-denominational and a good reminder to think about and be thankful for someone/something other than ourselves.
I wasn’t only mentioning my fundamentalist evangelical relatives, but also most of the neighbors of my non-religious Mississippi relatives as well.
This very aspect of their neighbors is one reason why they find those neighbors to be a bit overbearing and why one of their kids permanently relocated to a coastal city after high school.
Another aspect which drove home this overbearing aspect of their fundamentalist evangelical neighbors was their open express disapproval on religious grounds for the Mississippi relatives moving one of the kids out of the local private school(former segregation academy) to attend a Catholic private school a two hour drive each way.
The relatives were doing so because the latter offered far superior academics than the local former segregation academy whose academic offerings they found to be very lacking after a year of enrolling their kids there. .