No one wants to talk about death at the dinner table, at a soccer game, or at a party, says Lizzy Miles, a social worker from Columbus, Ohio. But sometimes people need to talk about the "taboo" topic, but when they do, there's usually no one to listen. Ms. Miles has responded by helping to launch a number of "Death Cafes" across the nation.

What is a "Death Café"? According to the organization's website, "At Death Cafes people come together in a relaxed and safe setting to discuss death, drink tea, and eat delicious cake. The objective of Death Cafe is 'To increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.'"

Death Cafes were initiated in 2004 by a Swiss sociologist. In 2011, they started popping up in England before arriving in the U.S. So far these small, informal gatherings to drink tea and talk about death have been held in various cities across the U.S. and Canada.

Linda Siniard, a facilitator of Death Cafes, says that she felt a need to talk about death when her son died six years ago. Siniard said, "A lot of us had put dying and death—and definitely grief—into these very secretive closets, because we weren't welcomed into the conversation." The leaders of the Death Café movement believe that it's time to lift our death taboo and bring it out of the closet.

But they also admit that it will be an uphill battle to get people to talk freely about death. As one of the founders of the movement said, "Death denial is an omnipresent feature of Western consumer capitalism."

Editor’s Note: As of 2024 “Death Cafes” continue to be active. You can check their web site here:

https://deathcafe.com/