cut anybody's meat?

That they are not with children.

Can you please do the Moderators a favor and tag your topics? You can just copy/paste this phrase: english,grammar into the tag box when you post. Thank you.

To expand a little on what Jespah has said--if they were dining with children, the woman would have to cut up their meat for them before they could eat. So, as Jespah points out, the significance is that they are dining out as adults, with no children--she doesn't have to cut anybody's meat for them.