You shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I, G-d your G-d, am holy.
Leviticus 20:7
One of the messages in this verse is that we must make our meals holy. This means first that we should eat with proper intentions and manners, i.e., in order to have the energy to fulfill our Divine mission and with appreciation for G-d’s benevolence in providing for our sustenance.
Secondly, we should make our meals into acts of charity by inviting guests and poor people to eat with us.
Finally, we should discuss the Torah at the table. If we sanctify our meals in these ways, we are told that our table acts like the Altar in the Temple, atoning for us and enabling us to achieve higher levels of Divine consciousness.
The reason our sanctified table functions like the Altar is because both serve as means through which the sparks of Divinity embedded in the physical world are elevated. When an animal is sacrificed on the Altar, the entire animal kingdom is elevated; when grain, wine, or oil is sacrificed on the Altar, the entire vegetable kingdom is elevated. Similarly, when we consume food and drink with holy intentions and in a holy way, all aspects of our lives and of the world are elevated.
—from Daily Wisdom 3