It’s a safe entry point, anyone can chime in and borders on phatic. I get it. But my preference is it triggers something quickly like a funny story as op said. Too often the ritual just gets stuck.

Personally? Almost literally anything but food

I've always been a picky eater and it's been a source of a lot of embarrassing situations for me in my life. Now I'm celiac too, and many people still kind of roll their eyes when I say I have to be gluten free. Talking about food with people I don't know well makes me uncomfortable as hell.

To the point raised in another conment: it doesn't feel like a safe easy topic for me because in my life it often hasn't been