I think what people value is subjective. You might not care for cars, real estate, fine foods, art, or engineering - and that’s ok - but it seems perfectly reasonable to me that someone else might derive a lot of happy memories from those things. Especially when shared with people you love. They certainly wouldn’t make me less happy, that’s for sure!
Food is essentially an experience, and everyone tells you time and again, to pay for experiences not things. If you've enjoyed it, especially with others as you said, there's no way you've wasted that money.
