As well as deciding what is and isn't vital. The way Masonry becomes all things to the regularly attending members is to supply them what they consider vital, but that isn't vital to other regularly attending members.
The term "festive board" refers to a meal that is not in a tiled meeting. As such it's optional to some but not to all. I've been to meetings that didn't include a meal. I've visited lodges that didn't have meals. They aren't the successful lodges. I've also been to lodges that had never heard the term "festive board" but had meals anyways. There are members who attend the meal then leave.
But remember the other parts of this thread when discussing the dining room. Grand lodge Masonry was founded at Table Lodge. In a dining room. At a tiled meeting. For well over a century degrees were conducted around the dining room tables. You may not have experienced a tiled meal, but that's an impoverishment of your jurisdiction and of your experiences. Thinking that Table Lodge is not vital, when it was our founding event, is like thinking your lodge is the only lodge in the world.