The pots are traditionally made of clay (土鍋, donabe) which can keep warm for a while after taken off from the fire or cast thick iron (鉄鍋, tetsunabe) which evenly distribute heat and preferably used for sukiyaki. The pots are usually placed in the center of dinning tables, shared by multiple persons.
Most nabemono are stews and soups served during the colder seasons. In modern Japan, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stoves. The dish is frequently cooked at the table, and the diners can pick the cooked ingredients they want from the pot. It is either eaten with the broth or with a dip. Further ingredients can also be successively added to the pot.
Eating together from a shared pot is considered as an important feature of nabemono; East Asian people believe that eating from one pot makes a closer relationship. The Japanese thus say, Nabe (w)o kakomu (鍋を囲む、"sitting around the pot"), implying that sharing nabemono will create warm relations between the diners who eat together from the shared pot.