Take some ziti, meatballs, chicken marsala and add garlic bread and salad, then toss in a few questions and you have a recipe for a discussion.

Complete strangers needed nothing more Monday night to not only share stories from their personal lives but, as was the intended purpose, talk about the state’s strengths, opportunities and challenges.

The occasion was the 14th of 20 Together RI dinner sessions hosted by the Rhode Island Foundation across the state. Some attendees registered in advance and others just showed up at the Pilgrim Senior Center. It made no difference as long as they were willing to talk about the state and, as the Rhode Island Foundation hopes, identify issues that will be useful in moving it forward.

Foundation executive director Neil Steinberg has attended every one of the sessions, finding the common theme that the state’s size is both one of its greatest assets as well as a challenge. But he’s encouraged.

“Consistently, there’s been enthusiasm,” he said.

And, indeed, there was that among the eight tables of eight. Most in attendance were Warwick residents, but there were about a half-dozen who had attended more than one of the community sessions and as many as five of them. Consistency also describes the conclusions reached at the Together RI dinner meeting.

Condition of the state’s infrastructure from its roads and bridges to its school buildings, how to fund improvements, high taxes in the state and how tax dollars are spent were commonly listed as challenges. Among the challenges, too, was affordable housing, how to deal with panhandling, how to provide jobs that will keep young people in state and finding leaders.

On the topic of strengths, groups identified the state’s quality of life, beauty, people, history, institutions of higher learning, diversity and then, perhaps since food was a common denominator, its many restaurants. Also listed as a strength is how, if Rhode Islanders don’t know each other, they all seem to share a common acquaintance. They were talking about the benefits of being a small and close-knit community. People that care for one another was also among the strengths identified.

Steinberg said only a few elected officials have participated in the dinner sessions. It’s not that they aren’t welcome, but they weren’t specifically invited. Mayor Scott Avedisian stayed for dinner and joined in one of the group discussions.

Steinberg said he asked Avedisian if he was attending in the capacity of mayor and Avedisian told him he was there as “Scott.”

Many of the opportunities listed revolved around the strengths, including further development of the tourism industry, building upon the airport as a regional facility and promotion of its colleges and universities. Development of sustainable energy, including solar and offshore wind power, were listed along with Quonset Point.

Steinberg didn’t offer a timetable for when the results of the meetings, which have ranged in attendance from 30 to more than 130, would be released. He’s encouraged that 80 percent of participants have completed questionnaires. The results are going to be compiled by URI students.

“We’re going to tell everyone,” Steinberg said when asked how the information would be used. He is hopeful that some of the process to follow will be “organic” with some of those who met over dinner continuing to get together.

Some of that seemed to have caught on Monday night.

With dinner cleaned up and tables cleared, Rhode Island Foundation staff were ready to call it an evening. That wasn’t the case for some, who kept on chatting as staff left.

The next session in this area will be held Tuesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Varnum Memorial Armory in East Greenwich. The last of the sessions is a breakfast meeting from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Elmwood Community Center in Providence.