{"id":1783,"date":"2012-04-16T10:13:38","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T15:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/?p=1783"},"modified":"2019-02-09T16:48:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-09T21:48:08","slug":"potluck-4-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/interchange4peace.org\/?p=1783","title":{"rendered":"Potluck 4 Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Members of InterChange and our allies held a potluck in the Peace Lounge at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education to collect stories for the Food Peace project. The project features diverse ways food and drink are used to build peace and impact transformative change in our lives, communities, and societies around the world in a social, political, economic, and environmental context. May you embrace peace, health, and happiness through growing, preparing, and sharing food. Read these inspiring stories.<\/p>\n

Patrick \u2013 Milk<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Milk in Rwanda<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>I didn\u2019t bring food to this potluck tonight but I thought I would bring something that has a very important meaning \u2013 a symbol of our culture. I\u2019m originally from Rwanda and this icon here represents a traditional scene in Rwanda where you see two people, one person coming to visit another, and the first thing they do is offer the visitors milk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is really at the heart of our culture; milk represents a lot. We used to call our country a country of \u201cmilk and honey\u201d. When we make our New Year wishes, we wish for the other person to have a year full of milk and honey. Also, you can greet somebody and say \u201chave milk in your life\u201d \u2013 these are blessings. So, it\u2019s really central to our culture. The way it relates to peace is that it holds the community together because milk comes from a cow, and people have a tradition of offering a cow to their neighbour. You can have many cows if you can afford them and if you have the space. A lot of time, if somebody does something good for you, you give them a cow and they will give the veal that is born from the cow to another neighbour. Traditionally, you give a cow to a person who has less means. You can give a cow to somebody who has wealth but it\u2019s good to give a cow to somebody who has nothing. So, it\u2019s really part of the culture and it brings so much wealth to the community. I would say that it\u2019s sacred \u2013 milk is sacred.<\/p>\n

In the image, you can see someone holding something like a jug. It\u2019s made of wood and it\u2019s covered with something like a basket but which is made specifically to cover the milk receptacle. This basket can take a month to make and usually women make them. It\u2019s not very labour intensive but traditionally women make baskets as a stress reliever or just for fun. They make a little bit, put it somewhere, go and do other things in the house, and later come back and do another line. This little cover, which is like a basket, is a symbol of patience. It\u2019s made of sisal and the black part is made of banana bark. That\u2019s what I want to share, the wealth that is in our culture. The wealth is not money; it is what you can give to other people and milk is really central.<\/p>\n

Anne \u2013 Pink Guava Juice<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Pink Guava Juice<\/p><\/div>\n

I did not make anything tonight because I was too busy. But I think that\u2019s part of our life as well. So, I had in my mind that I was going to buy fruit juice from South Africa and that plan didn\u2019t work out all that well either. I was rushing around riding my bike and I thought I\u2019d go to Loblaw\u2019s and get the juice, which they did not have! They do have about four different places in the supermarket where they sell juice \u2013 juice that\u2019s refrigerated, juice that\u2019s organic, juice that\u2019s not refrigerated but nowhere was the juice I was going to get.<\/p>\n

I remembered that I was coming downtown for a conference so I thought I\u2019d leave it and shop afterwards. When I went afterwards I still couldn\u2019t find it but I found pink guava juice<\/strong> and I thought, whoa! This really reminds me of home.<\/p>\n

It actually raised, for me, some questions about local food versus imported food. \u00a0For example, I love avocados. They are not native to Canada and never will be but other people grow them just to export them. I get excited to see pink guavas in the local city supermarkets like the local store across the road even though I know they didn\u2019t grow locally.<\/p>\n

So, I guess part of the question is what \u201cindigeneity\u201d is, and what does it mean? I don\u2019t think it just means \u201ccoming from a place.\u201d I think it\u2019s \u201cbelonging to a place.\u201d I\u2019m not native to Canada nor are many of us here in this circle, and I feel that that\u2019s part of the richness we bring as well. So, I guess I wonder how this whole tension between local foods and other foods works.<\/p>\n

I think growing up in South Africa where we did eat food in season was a definite benefit. Here, you can get a peach any time of the year. But we would look forward so much to the first peach of the spring and you would enjoy it. I feel we have so much abundance that we lack something. We lack that special knowledge that this food is now growing and we forget that things have a natural rhythm. So, partly bringing the pink guava juice is to say that I\u2019m enjoying it even though it\u2019s completely out of its natural rhythm. That\u2019s my story.<\/p>\n

Mary Jane \u2013 Loaves of Bread\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Loaves of Bread<\/p><\/div>\n

I brought two loaves of bread<\/strong> to the potluck tonight. They were made in my neighbourhood at a local bakery that uses traditional baking methods. It\u2019s a tiny, cubbyhole type place that just recently opened. They have beautiful, rich breads and pastries, and they use organic and traditional methods. It\u2019s very local so it makes you think about the question of local vs. not local food. I work in a community-based agency and we support families but my role is specifically in affordable housing. We have a wonderful agency \u2013 the people there get along and we have an incredible team. But I didn\u2019t realize how disconnected we actually were working in our little cubbyholes, our cubicles, until somebody decided that we should have what is called \u201csalad day.\u201d \u201cSalad day\u201d isn\u2019t really about salad \u2013 rather it\u2019s one day where everyone brings an item to share and I started to bring this bread regularly. There was a powerful transformation of the group. The way we work together changed because we had shared meals; we were eating with each other as opposed to each individual person going off to a different restaurant or eating at our desks. We still do that \u2013 that hasn\u2019t changed \u2013 but once a month we have a designated day where everybody brings food to share. I have brought this kind of bread several times now so I wanted to bring it here and share it with everyone as an item of representation for this event. I think it speaks to the peace that we created amongst co-workers. There wasn\u2019t any real conflict to begin with but we created a different environment, we learned about one another in a different way, and we communicated in a different way than we do over our work issues. I think it had a wonderful effect and I was surprised at how much transformation occurred \u2013 it was quite remarkable.\u00a0 Also, I think the benefits last throughout the entire month. I just wanted to share the same with all of you.<\/p>\n

Natalie \u2013 Fish Cakes\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Fish Cakes<\/p><\/div>\n

I brought a traditional dish from my native homeland of Barbados \u2013 fish cakes<\/strong>.\u00a0 It just reminds me of being younger and not growing up in a very diverse community in the suburbs of Mississauga. We always had potlucks to attend. I didn\u2019t cook but my father would cook something really traditional and when everyone placed their food on the table there was always this moment of, \u201cOh my gosh, are they going to like it? Are they going to make fun of it?\u201d Oftentimes, they did. We weren\u2019t as open or diverse as we are now. So, when I brought this food to the potluck here and people were eating it and enjoying it, there was this feeling of joy and a sense of pride. People started sharing their stories about travelling to Barbados or about liking different foods from Barbados. It was a really great moment. Most Saturdays my dad plays dominoes with his friends, and they cook a traditional dish for which they use pigs\u2019 feet and other parts that people might think are pretty gross. After being involved with this project, I asked my dad about it, and it turns out that during times of slavery those were the only parts of the meat that were available. Now it has become a delicacy. I think this is a great project because as you can see, there are many rippling effects.<\/p>\n

Grace \u2013 Food, Stories, and Memory<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Baklava<\/p><\/div>\n

This is not well prepared at all, this story. Maybe like some food that\u2019s not well prepared. For me, food has a very bittersweet feeling. Food can represent plenty, of course, and then when there\u2019s no food or there\u2019s very little food it represents terrible tragedy. For me, as early as I can remember, there was always anxiety around food. My parents were in the Holocaust in WWII \u2013 they were in concentration camps. Obviously, they did not have much food at all. Most people around them starved to death. They were fortunate in that they survived but those kinds of wounds \u2013 emotional wounds \u2013 stay with you even when you can physically eat again, years later. So, when I was a child and we would eat at the table, the interesting thing was that if we would leave something over on the plate, even without necessarily talking about it openly, we knew it was considered a really bad thing to do. I did not have a good appetite when I was a child so there was a lot of anxiety about whether I would be able to finish what was on the plate. When my parents came to Canada after WWII, they had trouble financially and so there was the issue that maybe there would not be enough money to have enough food every month. We wouldn\u2019t starve but it was an issue. So, it took me a long time to find my peace with being able to enjoy food and not feel guilty about it. There was a connection between guilt and enjoying food.<\/p>\n

When Patrick mentioned that Rwanda was known as the land of \u201cmilk and honey,\u201d it reminded me of how, for the Jews, the \u201cpromised land\u201d was called the land of \u201cmilk and honey\u201d as well. It got me thinking about the great exodus \u2013 Moses bringing the Jewish slaves out of Egypt and wandering the desert for 40 years. And of course, they were in the hot sun and they had very few tools with them so when they made bread it didn\u2019t rise \u2013 it was unleavened. I should have brought Matza, which is like a flat sheet of very hard dough. It\u2019s unleavened. At the Passover Seder we are not allowed to eat regular bread. We\u2019re supposed to eat unleavened bread just to remember those who were in the desert who could not eat properly. So, to me food is connected a great deal with memory both positive and negative. It\u2019s about keeping these stories in one\u2019s mind and sharing them with others. There\u2019s a great quote in a book \u2013 it\u2019s really sort of a children\u2019s book, which is relevant for here \u2013 that stories are sometimes even more important than food to keep you alive. And sometimes you need to share a story with others, which can actually be more important for them than anything, and that\u2019s why I think this project is so important. It occurs to me that the food of humanity is stories. Without stories we\u2019re not human beings. If we stop telling stories what do we have left? I\u2019m still struggling with being able to make food \u2013 I don\u2019t cook all that much although I love eating and I love going to other people\u2019s homes to eat. I\u2019m on a journey and perhaps this evening has helped me out with the next stage of that journey.<\/p>\n

I did bring baklava <\/strong>tonight, which is the exact opposite of poverty! It\u2019s the exact opposite of scarcity \u2013 it is sweet, it is overflowing with flavour, decadent even. It\u2019s something just lovely. I want to end on a hopeful note because that is how I stay alive anyway but I think that I am really on a transformative journey \u2013 the fact that I brought baklava, which is beyond sadness \u2013 it\u2019s happy.<\/p>\n

Christie \u2013 Bread & Cheese<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Bread and Cheese<\/p><\/div>\n

My father\u2019s family is Swiss and I lived in Switzerland for a while, a number of years ago when I was younger. I brought bread and cheese to the potluck, which reminds me of my grandparents because they always had bread and cheese for breakfast. In most European countries the big meal is at lunchtime and then bread and cheese is eaten again for supper. My sister and I love that because nobody here wants to eat bread and cheese for breakfast. We also love to eat it for supper but that\u2019s not the norm here. It reminds me, too, of how the actual act of eating and sitting down for dinner is very different between here and Switzerland. When I lived in Switzerland I remember I went with my family out for lunch. We ate lunch, had coffee, had more coffee, sat there for four hours, and then had supper. We were in the restaurant for a total of nine hours. It is a very different mentality about what it\u2019s like to socialize; it\u2019s nothing to go for several hours in the middle of a workday and have something to eat. It\u2019s not necessarily about nourishment but it\u2019s about getting together with people. People, friends, come into restaurants and all start sitting together. The restaurant that I worked in when I lived in Switzerland had a specific table \u2013 it was called \u201cstammtisch,\u201d which means \u201cregular table.\u201d It was a round table in the corner that had a little sign, \u201cstammtisch.\u201d If you weren\u2019t a regular or you were a tourist you didn\u2019t sit there. There would always be a bunch of old guys sitting at the table drinking coffee. That\u2019s where the regulars sat. If you go into any restaurant in the central part of Switzerland where I lived and worked, you\u2019d find a stammtisch. It was funny when I travelled with my cousins; I sat at the stammtisch because I was a \u201cregular\u201d when I was with them. The idea is that it\u2019s not so much about what<\/em> you\u2019re eating as it is about socializing. The concept of time in Switzerland is very different than in North America. I try to get my friends here to go out for dinner and it\u2019s always a big deal about where we go. I honestly don\u2019t care where we go. I also eat really slowly, which annoys them but they want to leave as soon as they\u2019re done eating. For me, I want a whole evening out \u2013 I have no problem spending four or five hours in a restaurant. So, not only does the bread and cheese remind me of my grandmother but it reminds me of \u201cthe old country\u201d as my grandma would say, and a very different way of life.<\/p>\n

Kim \u2013 Black Bean and Rice Salad<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Black Bean and Rice Salad<\/p><\/div>\n

Feeding bellies feeds souls.<\/p>\n

I have always liked cooking and sharing new discoveries with friends and colleagues. Much of my work has also involved helping folks to explore food that gives the biggest nutritional bang for their buck. I have been vegetarian for years and avoid foods that are processed and laden with chemicals. I believe that factory farms and big box stores are bad for bodies, bad for the earth, and ultimately will create catastrophic changes in weather patterns. We are already seeing wide spread health crises in areas where food is abundant while poverty and malnutrition continue to plague developing nations.<\/p>\n

Recipes should be easy and flexible. Rice and grain dishes are found the world over. Plant-based diets are peace-based diets \u2013 kind to the environment and good for our bodies. This recipe is a happy blend of some of my favourite foods.\u00a0 The juicy acidity of the limes and the bitter warmth of the cumin beautifully enhance the protein in the rice and beans. The buttery goodness of the avocado is a great balance to the bitter arugula that jump-starts your system after a long winter of heavy foods.<\/p>\n

Sharing food that is prepared with care opens hearts, encourages connections, and creates endless possibilities. Our gathering to share food is like creating the food itself. A number of ones combined together creates a new whole that fills and nourishes bodies and souls.<\/p>\n

Black Bean and Brown Rice Salad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/strong><\/p>\n