Food Studies: Grow-Your-Own Pizza in New Haven

Despite the culinary delights of Switzerland, Josh hurries back from break to make the first pizza of spring. Bonus photo of a cute asparagus tip!

Josh Evans

Apr 8, 2011

By Josh Evans

April 8, 2011

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Food Studies features the voices of volunteer student bloggers from a variety of different food- and agriculture-related programs at universities around the world. Don’t miss Josh’s first post, in which he described making lunch for Carlo Petrini, writing a paper on the oldest cookbook in the world, and blogging about his homemade vanilla extract.

I recently got back from exploring Switzerland and Italy with my a cappella group for our two-week spring break. It was a tour replete with food adventures of all kinds, though I have to admit I was still looking forward to coming back to New Haven, if only for one thing: the first pizza of spring.

Among the many things I get to do for my work with the Yale Sustainable Food Project, one of the most gratifying is making pizza from scratch for our volunteers and special events. Every Friday of the school year (except for the winter period between Thanksgiving at the end of November and spring break in March), it’s my job, along with a few other student interns, to fire up our wood-burning oven, make dough, harvest and prepare vegetables from the farm, and bake pizzas after our end-of-the-week volunteer workdays.

For me, it represents why I love sustainable food and its tremendous importance. Transforming the fruits of our labor into something delicious to eat together, and then sharing this pleasure that strengthens both the earth itself and our connection with it, is what this movement is all about. Sustainability is not about austerity; rather, more often than not, it leads us towards greater pleasure, health, and conviviality.

With these ideas in mind, you can see why I was itching to get back to the farm and get my hands floured for the first time since November. Even though it was a long, cold winter in the Northeast, we had a bounty of produce to harvest for pizza: overwintered carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, and leeks (certain vegetables left in the ground over the winter gain an incredible intensity and sweetness of flavor), garlic, butternut squash harvested in the fall, tomato sauce made from last summer’s tomatoes, mixed microgreens, the first sprigs of rosemary and sage, as well as ricotta and mozzarella from our favorite local cheesemaker, Liuzzi. The pizzas all featured a beautiful palette of oranges, greens, and whites, and they heralded the coming spring while celebrating the last that winter had to offer.

Meanwhile, the first asparagus has poked its head above ground, and I cannot wait for their spears to grow and stretch skyward towards the harvest table and pizza oven. In a few weeks, we’ll be topping our pizzas with these beautiful spring vegetables, as well as pea tendrils, green onions, and any other bounty the season yields.

The toppings on our pizza are always changing as new produce ripens, and it is always an exciting and creative challenge to combine them in new ways to satisfy our volunteers. Often they help us stretch dough, arrange the toppings, and load pizzas into the oven. Sometimes we get pretty interesting combinations; they are almost always exceedingly delicious. It is an afternoon filled with play after a day of hard work. And as far as I’m concerned, if kids are eating vegetables and enjoying them, then our project is already a success.

To be continued…

Josh is a student blogger for the Food Studies feature on GOOD’s Food hub. If you enjoyed this, you can read more of his writing at his blog, Hearthstrung, and you should check out the rest of the Food Studies blogger gang, and their musings on land-grant universities, meat substitutes, iodine, and more.

Photos courtesy of the author.

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Man inflating car tires at a gas station.

Money, Smart Spending

8 ways to squeeze more miles from every tank, according to America’s fleet pros

Fleet-tested habits for spending less at the pump.

Good Partner

4/29/2026

Kelly Soderlund for Samsara

The trucking industry has turned fuel efficiency into a science. Here’s what everyday drivers can borrow from their playbook.

Diesel hit $5.03 per gallon for U.S. commercial fleets in early 2026 — and fuel already eats up roughly 21–24% of what motor carriers spend just to operate. That financial pressure turned fuel management into one of the most carefully engineered problems in the trucking industry. Fleet operators have cameras, sensors, and software all pointed at one question: How do you stop wasting fuel?

The answers they’ve landed on aren’t mysterious or trucking-specific. Most of them apply just as well to a Honda Civic as to an 18-wheeler. Samsara shares eight things the pros do that you can start doing today.

1. Stop idling. Seriously.

This one sounds obvious until you add up how often you actually do it. Sitting in a drive-through, waiting for someone outside a building, letting the car “warm up” before a winter drive — it all adds up. Commercial trucks burn close to a gallon of fuel per hour while idling, and the widely held belief that idling is easier on an engine than restarting is flat-out wrong. Restarting costs less.

Fleet companies track idling per driver and flag anything that looks excessive. At home, the rule of thumb is simple: If you’re stopped for more than a minute and going nowhere, shut it off.

2. Drive like you’re trying to protect a full cup of coffee on the dashboard.

The way you use your right foot is probably the single biggest variable in your fuel economy. Hard acceleration, speeding, and aggressive braking can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 40%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. That’s nearly half your gas budget.

Commercial fleets coach their drivers specifically on smooth throttle inputs: gradual acceleration, cruise control on highways, and coasting into stops instead of braking late and hard. The physics don’t care what size vehicle you’re driving.

3. Pay attention to your own numbers.

One discovery from the fleet world: When you show drivers their own efficiency scores, they improve without being told to. Companies that introduced driver performance dashboards and friendly competition between drivers saw measurable gains — one fleet tracked a jump from 6 MPG to 7.5 MPG after making individual scores visible.

Most cars already give you this data. If yours has a fuel economy display, watch it. If you want to go further, note your mileage at each fill-up and calculate your MPG manually. Setting a personal monthly target and trying to beat it month over month is genuinely effective, mostly because awareness changes behavior.

4. Think like a dispatcher when you plan your errands.

The cheapest gallon of fuel is the one you never have to buy. Commercial dispatchers obsess over route efficiency because unnecessary miles are pure cost with no upside. That logic applies in your driveway, too.

Before you run errands, spend 90 seconds thinking about the most logical order — fewest backtracks, least highway-to-city switching, combining stops you’d otherwise make on separate days. Apps like Google Maps and Waze handle the turn-by-turn, but the trip consolidation decision is yours to make before you leave.

5. Find cheaper gas before you’re running on empty.

Fuel prices can vary by 30 cents or more per gallon within just a few miles. Fleet operators now route drivers toward lower-cost fuel stops using real-time price data. You can do the exact same thing with GasBuddy, Waze’s gas prices layer, or the gas station search in Google Maps, which pulls in nearby prices.

The habit that makes this work: Check prices before your tank is low, not after. Desperation-fueling — stopping at whatever’s convenient when the warning light is on — is reliably the most expensive way to fill up.

6. Watch for fraud at the pump.

This is less about efficiency and more about not losing money you didn’t know you were losing. Fuel theft and card skimming at gas stations are more common than most drivers realize, and fraudulent charges from a compromised card often go unnoticed for weeks. Fleet companies use real-time transaction alerts to flag unusual purchases immediately.

For personal use, a few practical habits help: Use tap-to-pay instead of swiping when the terminal allows it (skimming devices can’t read contactless transactions), check your bank and credit card statements weekly, and consider a card with real-time transaction notifications turned on.

7. Your tire pressure is costing you money right now.

Here’s a number that tends to surprise people: For every 1 PSI drop in tire pressure, your vehicle loses roughly 0.4% of its fuel efficiency. Tires lose pressure slowly and steadily — a few PSI over a few months is completely normal and easy to miss. By the time you notice a tire looks low, it’s been costing you at the pump for weeks.

Fleet maintenance teams tie tire pressure checks directly to fuel economy because the correlation is consistent and measurable. For personal vehicles, checking tire pressure once a month takes about five minutes. While you’re at it, a clogged air filter, old engine oil, or worn spark plugs all carry similar slow-drain effects on efficiency that a routine tune-up addresses.

8. Track your MPG over time — and notice when it changes.

Fleets benchmark fuel performance across their vehicles and flag outliers: a truck getting meaningfully fewer miles per gallon than similar trucks is likely developing a mechanical problem before it becomes a breakdown. The fuel data is an early warning signal.

Your car works the same way. If you track your MPG over several fill-ups and see a notable drop without a change in how or where you’re driving, something is usually going on mechanically. Catching it at the “slightly worse MPG” stage is almost always cheaper than catching it at the “broken down on the highway” stage.

Fuel cost analysis and fleet efficiency data referenced in this article are drawn from Samsara’s research on commercial fleet fuel management.

This story was produced by Samsara and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

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A sunrise view of a row of cherry blossom trees and the Rosslyn skyline reflected in the Tidal Basin in Virginia.

Everyday Economics, Money

The happiest cities in America in 2026, ranked across 11 factors

Arlington leads a data-driven look at where Americans may be happiest.

Good Partner

4/29/2026
Jaclyn DeJohn, CFP for SmartAsset

Happiness may not be easy to quantify, but some qualifiers may make a person more likely to feel satisfied in life. A reasonable degree of financial freedom can alleviate worry about day-to-day costs and the occasional unexpected expense. Similarly, good relationships, overall health and longevity, basic conveniences, and privacy can go a long way in keeping stress down and contentment up. While none of these things alone are the secret to happiness, they may all individually contribute to a life geared toward wants rather than needs — freeing up time and resources for individuals to explore and build a life on their own terms.

With this in mind, SmartAsset ranked 85 of the largest U.S. cities with available data based on 11 happiness factors spanning personal finance, physical and mental well-being, and quality of life factors.

Key Findings
- Arlington, VA, ranks as the happiest city for 2026. Arlington ranks among the top five cities for a variety of happiness metrics, including life expectancy (83.9 years), household earnings over $100,000 (64.3%), mentally healthy days (84.9%), adults getting exercise (83%), and access to activity spaces (100%).
- Fremont, CA, households outearn their peers. Ranking second overall for happiest cities, 70.7% of Fremont households earn over $100,000, the most studywide. This pairs with the lowest poverty rate of 4.7%. However, 18.1% of households in Fremont end up spending 50% or more of their income on housing. In tandem, the population maintains the highest rate of health insurance coverage and marriage, at 98.1% and 63.8%, respectively.
- Austin, TX, has the least traffic. The traffic volume per meter in Austin, Texas — a practice ground for many autonomous vehicle companies — is lowest studywide at 42.1. This pales in comparison to Boston, which has over 40 times the traffic volume per meter at 1753.9. The average traffic volume per meter is 299.
- Residents have the most mentally healthy days in Honolulu. Ranking 16th happiest overall, Honolulu residents feel mentally healthy for 85.2% of days. San Jose, California, follows closely at 85% mentally healthy days. On the other end of the spectrum, the residents of Toledo, Ohio, have the worst mental health ranking, at 78.2% of days spent mentally healthy.
- These California cities have the most overcrowding in housing. Privacy and space can go a long way in making a person comfortable in their own space, and can be indicative of financial resources. In Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Fresno, just over 10% of households are home to more than one person per bedroom. Laredo, Texas, also falls into this category of high overcrowding. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh has the lowest rate of overcrowding at 0.9%.
Top 25 Happiest Cities
1. Arlington, VA
- Households earning $100k+: 64.3%
- Poverty rate: 8.3%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 14.2%
- Poor mental health days: 15.1%
- Life expectancy (years): 83.9
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 83%
- Population with health insurance: 93.9%
- Marriage rate: 44.2%
- Traffic volume per meter: 540
- Access to activity space: 100%
- Overcrowded households: 3.4%
1. Fremont, CA
- Households earning $100k+: 70.7%
- Poverty rate: 4.7%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 18.1%
- Poor mental health days: 17.8%
- Life expectancy (years): 82
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 81.2%
- Population with health insurance: 98.1%
- Marriage rate: 63.8%
- Traffic volume per meter: 683
- Access to activity space: 99.6%
- Overcrowded households: 7.7%
1. San Jose, CA
- Households earning $100k+: 64.2%
- Poverty rate: 8.1%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 15.7%
- Poor mental health days: 15%
- Life expectancy (years): 83.8
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 80.9%
- Population with health insurance: 95.6%
- Marriage rate: 48.6%
- Traffic volume per meter: 626.4
- Access to activity space: 99.4%
- Overcrowded households: 7.9%
1. Seattle, WA
- Households earning $100k+: 57.1%
- Poverty rate: 9.4%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 15%
- Poor mental health days: 16.6%
- Life expectancy (years): 81.1
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 86.7%
- Population with health insurance: 96.3%
- Marriage rate: 39.5%
- Traffic volume per meter: 333
- Access to activity space: 97.9%
- Overcrowded households: 3.9%
1. Raleigh, NC
- Households earning $100k+: 43%
- Poverty rate: 13.3%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 12%
- Poor mental health days: 15.7%
- Life expectancy (years): 81
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 84.2%
- Population with health insurance: 92.9%
- Marriage rate: 38.8%
- Traffic volume per meter: 111.6
- Access to activity space: 98.6%
- Overcrowded households: 2%
1. Boise, ID
- Households earning $100k+: 39.9%
- Poverty rate: 12.9%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 10.9%
- Poor mental health days: 17.1%
- Life expectancy (years): 79.7
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 82.4%
- Population with health insurance: 93.1%
- Marriage rate: 44.2%
- Traffic volume per meter: 116.7
- Access to activity space: 91.6%
- Overcrowded households: 1.9%
1. Lincoln, NE
- Households earning $100k+: 33.5%
- Poverty rate: 13.4%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 12.6%
- Poor mental health days: 15.3%
- Life expectancy (years): 79.1
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 78.9%
- Population with health insurance: 93.4%
- Marriage rate: 47%
- Traffic volume per meter: 211.1
- Access to activity space: 95.4%
- Overcrowded households: 2.2%
1. Anchorage, AK
- Households earning $100k+: 53.9%
- Poverty rate: 8.3%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 13.2%
- Poor mental health days: 16.3%
- Life expectancy (years): 76.3
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 80.1%
- Population with health insurance: 90.6%
- Marriage rate: 48.7%
- Traffic volume per meter: 152.3
- Access to activity space: 93.9%
- Overcrowded households: 4.5%
1. San Francisco, CA
- Households earning $100k+: 61%
- Poverty rate: 11.3%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 16.9%
- Poor mental health days: 16.6%
- Life expectancy (years): 82.4
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 83.6%
- Population with health insurance: 97.2%
- Marriage rate: 39.1%
- Traffic volume per meter: 794
- Access to activity space: 100%
- Overcrowded households: 6.8%
1. Minneapolis, MN
- Households earning $100k+: 40.3%
- Poverty rate: 15.1%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 13.4%
- Poor mental health days: 16.1%
- Life expectancy (years): 79.5
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 83.3%
- Population with health insurance: 94.3%
- Marriage rate: 34%
- Traffic volume per meter: 304.6
- Access to activity space: 99.1%
- Overcrowded households: 2.7%
1. Colorado Springs, CO
- Households earning $100k+: 41.6%
- Poverty rate: 8.8%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 14.4%
- Poor mental health days: 18.4%
- Life expectancy (years): 76.2
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 81.5%
- Population with health insurance: 91.5%
- Marriage rate: 52.6%
- Traffic volume per meter: 140.9
- Access to activity space: 89.8%
- Overcrowded households: 2.5%
1. Aurora, CO
- Households earning $100k+: 46.4%
- Poverty rate: 10.7%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 15.6%
- Poor mental health days: 17.1%
- Life expectancy (years): 79.1
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 82.4%
- Population with health insurance: 85.6%
- Marriage rate: 44.9%
- Traffic volume per meter: 215.2
- Access to activity space: 97.5%
- Overcrowded households: 3%
1. Charlotte, NC
- Households earning $100k+: 43.7%
- Poverty rate: 11.9%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 14.3%
- Poor mental health days: 16.3%
- Life expectancy (years): 78.8
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 81.1%
- Population with health insurance: 87.9%
- Marriage rate: 40.4%
- Traffic volume per meter: 165.5
- Access to activity space: 88.7%
- Overcrowded households: 2.3%
1. Omaha, NE
- Households earning $100k+: 35.5%
- Poverty rate: 14.2%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 13.1%
- Poor mental health days: 15.9%
- Life expectancy (years): 77.7
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 75.7%
- Population with health insurance: 91.2%
- Marriage rate: 44.3%
- Traffic volume per meter: 214.9
- Access to activity space: 97.4%
- Overcrowded households: 2.1%
1. Chula Vista, CA
- Households earning $100k+: 52%
- Poverty rate: 9.6%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 20.8%
- Poor mental health days: 17.3%
- Life expectancy (years): 80.3
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 81.7%
- Population with health insurance: 94.8%
- Marriage rate: 50.2%
- Traffic volume per meter: 440.1
- Access to activity space: 97.5%
- Overcrowded households: 6.9%
1. Honolulu, HI
- Households earning $100k+: 44.5%
- Poverty rate: 10.5%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 19.4%
- Poor mental health days: 14.8%
- Life expectancy (years): 81.7
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 77.8%
- Population with health insurance: 96.8%
- Marriage rate: 45.1%
- Traffic volume per meter: 536.2
- Access to activity space: 96.6%
- Overcrowded households: 8.7%
1. San Diego, CA
- Households earning $100k+: 55.3%
- Poverty rate: 10.4%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 20.8%
- Poor mental health days: 17.3%
- Life expectancy (years): 80.3
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 81.7%
- Population with health insurance: 94.3%
- Marriage rate: 43.9%
- Traffic volume per meter: 440.1
- Access to activity space: 97.5%
- Overcrowded households: 6.9%
1. Lexington, KY
- Households earning $100k+: 34.2%
- Poverty rate: 12.1%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 14.7%
- Poor mental health days: 17.4%
- Life expectancy (years): 76.7
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 77.1%
- Population with health insurance: 91.9%
- Marriage rate: 42.5%
- Traffic volume per meter: 163.7
- Access to activity space: 97.4%
- Overcrowded households: 2.2%
1. Mesa, AZ
- Households earning $100k+: 41.9%
- Poverty rate: 10.8%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 14.2%
- Poor mental health days: 18.2%
- Life expectancy (years): 77.5
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 78%
- Population with health insurance: 89%
- Marriage rate: 48.5%
- Traffic volume per meter: 244.2
- Access to activity space: 92.8%
- Overcrowded households: 4.4%
1. Pittsburgh, PA
- Households earning $100k+: 33.2%
- Poverty rate: 20.1%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 11.9%
- Poor mental health days: 17.9%
- Life expectancy (years): 76.9
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 79%
- Population with health insurance: 96%
- Marriage rate: 33.6%
- Traffic volume per meter: 202.3
- Access to activity space: 93.3%
- Overcrowded households: 0.9%
1. Denver, CO
- Households earning $100k+: 46.8%
- Poverty rate: 12.1%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 16.3%
- Poor mental health days: 18.3%
- Life expectancy (years): 77.4
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 78.8%
- Population with health insurance: 90.7%
- Marriage rate: 40.5%
- Traffic volume per meter: 415.7
- Access to activity space: 99.1%
- Overcrowded households: 3.1%
1. Oakland, CA
- Households earning $100k+: 51.2%
- Poverty rate: 11.9%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 18.1%
- Poor mental health days: 17.8%
- Life expectancy (years): 82
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 81.2%
- Population with health insurance: 94.1%
- Marriage rate: 38.3%
- Traffic volume per meter: 683
- Access to activity space: 99.6%
- Overcrowded households: 7.7%
1. Spokane, WA
- Households earning $100k+: 38.4%
- Poverty rate: 12.7%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 13.9%
- Poor mental health days: 19.9%
- Life expectancy (years): 76.9
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 79.6%
- Population with health insurance: 93.7%
- Marriage rate: 41.9%
- Traffic volume per meter: 150.4
- Access to activity space: 87.6%
- Overcrowded households: 2.1%
1. Atlanta, GA
- Households earning $100k+: 45.4%
- Poverty rate: 15.8%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 17.3%
- Poor mental health days: 15.9%
- Life expectancy (years): 77.5
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 80%
- Population with health insurance: 91.4%
- Marriage rate: 31.8%
- Traffic volume per meter: 384
- Access to activity space: 93.8%
- Overcrowded households: 2%
1. Henderson, NV
- Households earning $100k+: 48.3%
- Poverty rate: 8.8%
- Households spending >50% of income on housing: 18.5%
- Poor mental health days: 18.4%
- Life expectancy (years): 76.6
- Percent of adults getting exercise: 73%
- Population with health insurance: 94.2%
- Marriage rate: 48%
- Traffic volume per meter: 196.6
- Access to activity space: 95.7%
- Overcrowded households: 4.4%
Data and Methodology

Eighty-five of the largest U.S. cities for which data was available were evaluated across three categories: personal finance, well-being, and quality of life. Data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau 1-Year American Community Survey for 2024 and the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps for 2025.

Personal finance metrics included:
- Percent of individuals earning $100,000 or more.
- Percent of households that spend 50% or more of their income on housing.
- Percent of residents below the poverty level.
Well-being metrics include:
- Average percentage of days spent with poor mental health
- Life expectancy in years.
- Percentage of residents getting exercise.
- Percentage of residents who have health insurance.
Quality of life metrics include:
- Marriage rate.
- Average traffic volume per meter of major roadways in the county.
- Percentage of population with adequate access to locations for physical activity.
- Percentage of households with overcrowding, defined as more than one person living in a room.
This story was produced by SmartAsset and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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Photo credit: Canva – A diverse group of professionals networking at an event.

Society, Work

10 conversation starters that actually work, according to communication experts

Better questions for real connection.

Good Partner

4/29/2026

Jeff Clemishaw for AnyWho

Even the most social people occasionally have difficulty getting a conversation going, resorting to basic, boring questions like “What do you do?” or “How do you know so-and-so?” Most of the time, these types of conversation starters lead to nothing. There’s nothing meaningful or thought-provoking about them.

If you want to have a truly engaging conversation with someone for the first time, you need a powerful conversation starter that’s backed by science. AnyWho covered 10 of the most effective icebreakers and the situations in which they’re best used.

Networking and professional conversation starters

1. “What’s the most interesting thing you’ve been working on recently?”

When trying to get to know someone, most people default to generic work conversations. While it’s a fine icebreaker, making the question more personal is a better way to engage with a new person.

Asking them about something interesting they’ve been working on gives you insight into their job but also into who they are as a person and what makes them tick.

2. “How did you end up on the path you’re on right now?”

This is another great example of a personalized question. Everyone has a story to tell, and many people are proud of where they’ve gotten with their careers. You can ask someone about their professional trajectory and how they’ve gotten into the line of work they are currently in.

It’s also important to prove that you’re actively listening, says NPR. Create a loop for understanding by repeating what the person said in your own words.

3. “What’s something you’re learning about these days?”

No matter what line of work a person is in, they’re always learning something new. We’re curious creatures. A question like this addresses someone’s immediate interests, professional or otherwise, which they’re more likely to eagerly talk about.

You should “aim to understand” what the person is saying, rather than just asking for the sake of asking. In an interview with NPR, communication expert Charles Duhigg says this is an important part of being a good communicator.

4. “What brought you to this event? What were you hoping to get out of it?”

Try to transcend basic questions about the event itself. It can come across as dry, awkward, and forced. Instead, ask someone what they were hoping to achieve by attending. It can reveal personal motivations and offer someone the opportunity to say something genuinely interesting.

Follow-up questions are an important part of every successful conversation, behavioral analyst Wendy Patrick says. Use the person’s answers to why they came to an event as a bridge for a deeper conversation.

Social gathering conversation starters

5. “What’s been the highlight of your week?”

Social conversations are much less formal than professional ones, so you can ask personal questions. A “highlight-of-your-week” question is a great way to get someone to smile, because they’ll be reflecting on something positive that’s happened to them recently.

Psychologically, this sets a conversation off on the right tone. It also helps you identify what someone values in their life.

6. “What’s something you’ve been really into lately — could be anything.”

This is a great question that’s casual and surface-level, but still allows you to get deeper insight into someone’s personality. It’s also an open-ended question, which allows someone to freely express themselves. Instead of asking a more specific question like “What music do you like?” it gives someone room to say what they’re truly passionate about.

7. “What’s your story?”

Some people respond better to deeper questions. Questions like “What’s your story?” and “Who do you want to be in 10 years?” allow people to self-disclose. Self-disclosure is an important part of building bonds, trust, and social connection, says psychological rehabilitation specialist Kendra Cherry.

First date conversation starters

8. “What’s something you’re really passionate about that most people don’t know?”

Dates are tricky for conversation because some people can be guarded or hesitant to share “too much.” Ideally, you want to create a personal connection through conversation. One of the best ways to do this is to ask them to share something with you that other people don’t know. It immediately builds trust and creates an intimate shared secret of sorts.

The more questions you ask someone, the more they will generally like you. Researchers at Harvard found that during speed-dating events, people who ask more questions are more likely to receive a second date.

At the same time, it’s important to ask genuine questions. The American Psychological Association suggests avoiding “boomerasking,” which is when you ask a question so that you can then answer it yourself.

9. “What’s the best trip you’ve ever taken and what made it special?”

Similar to the “highlight of your week” question, asking someone about their best trip creates a positive emotional reaction. Most first-date conversations are emotional, an important distinction, according to Charles Duhigg.

10. “What’s something you’ve always wanted to learn or try?”

As Michigan State University puts it, “understanding interests is key to building relationships.” By asking your date about something they’ve always wanted to learn or try, you gauge what they’re curious about. Understanding these interests helps you find common ground, which is a huge part of compatibility.

Making connections that last

Conversation is an essential part of the human experience. But it can be challenging to navigate, especially when talking with a new person. A good conversation starter reduces awkwardness for everyone while also providing opportunities to create meaningful relationships.

Whether you’re at a professional work event, a social gathering, or a first date, use some of these conversation starters to go beyond surface-level communication and form a connection that lasts.

This story was produced by AnyWho and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

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