Grief
Grief is perhaps the most significant theme in Family Meal. The central conceit in the novel is that Cam's girlfriend has died, but her spirit hasn't been able to leave the physical world. As a result, she continues to visit Cam, complicating his journey towards accepting her loss and grieving her properly. The novel explores how grief, especially grief complicated by Cam's unique situation, can change a person. At the start of the novel, it's clear that Cam is a happy, fun-loving guy; however, his personality has radically changed by the end of the novel, something which concerns his close friends. In other words, grief can be a powerful change agent, but it can also be crippling to someone, showing the importance of getting help when grief becomes too overpowering.
Friendship
Friendship is another important in the novel. Because of his grief, Cam initially isolates himself from the world. He has very little contact with his family and friends, including TJ, his best friend. In an effort to try to change his life up and escape from the grief, he moves back to his hometown in Houston, Texas. Because of TJ's support, Cam is able to find some sense of normalcy in his otherwise broken world. He finds a respite in TJ's friendship and his bakery, where Cam finds a job. And even though the two fight, they help to get each other past the things that are going on in their life.
Food
Food plays a substantial role in the novel. The novel's title is Family Meal; however, the author also uses food as a way to explore each of the characters and as a way to explore difficult topics. During their family meals, Cam talks about things like his grief and some of the challenges that he is facing on a daily basis. In that way, food is not just food to keep a person going; it is catharsis.
