This post is all about the power of food and its ability to bridge gaps between different cultures in a diverse society.
Food means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Let’s explore this more in depth help bridge gaps with a light-hearted approach to talking about food.
Bridge Gaps With Food
I’ve always loved food, not only the way it tastes and smells, but the love it represents and the joy it brings. Generation after generation, food plays a crucial role in our memories, relationships, and communities. However, food plays a role on a much larger scale, too. It is a reflection of a country’s land and resources. It’s often a direct result of the country’s wealth and political power. It contributes to a culture’s traditions and to a religion’s most precious ceremonies.
Knowing this about food, and having been an educator for many years, a new question arises. If food is that which sustains us, defines us, and unifies us, why do we not give students more exposure? Why are we not utilizing food more as a teaching tool? Everyone has to eat. Everyone has a personal relationship with food. Like concentric circles, our relationship to food starts with ourselves. It extends to our immediate family, our friends, our communities, and beyond. Food touches every level of our lives. Therefore, wouldn’t it only make sense that in order to teach people about cultural awareness, tolerance, understanding, and compassion, food may be the way? In today’s racially aware climate, it seems more important and appropriate than ever to find new and effective ways to teach students, or people in general, about diversity and compassion.
A Quote To Clarify
I discovered this quote by author Vatika Sibal in an article on www.wathi.org that clarifies the idea of understanding culture through food.
“…understanding a culture through food is an interesting process because once a person starts asking these questions, such as how something is made, what ingredients are in it, or why it is called a certain way, the answers obtained go beyond culinary learning. In these answers, food tells us something about a culture’s approach to life. In the end, we can say that food functions symbolically as a communicative practice by which we create, manage and share meanings with others. Understanding culture, habits, rituals and tradition can be explored through food and the way others perceive it.”
Vatika Sibal
Let’s find a way to bridge gaps with food!
Food Is A Universal Language
Although you will continue to find recipes and other fun tidbits on the blog, now Dite & Patra is diving deeper into the meaning of food. We will be exploring its connection to our lives, and what it can teach us about each other. I have always been extremely passionate about nurturing a world where we can all strive to be global citizens. Every person, race, culture, and religion has something to teach us and add to our lives.
If we are ever going to find compassion and understanding for those who are different from us, walking a mile in another man’s shoes is said to be the way. The only universal way for people from every corner of the world to try and come close to another man’s experiences first hand, could perhaps be through food. Taste what he tastes. Smell what he smells. Feel the texture of the food, see the colors. Engaging your senses is how you build an experience and form a memory. A food experience will be a meaningful and memorable one. It transcends person, place, and also time. We will never know exactly what it feels like to be someone else, have someone else’s skin color, family, wealth, experiences, privileges, or beliefs, but if we can share in and celebrate the aspects of other people’s cuisines, we may just be able to walk a few steps in their shoes, and that could make all the difference.
