Bree wrote: > You sir..... are a gentleman and a scholar. Maybe you should be the one > doing the negotiating in the middle east. Your post gave a wonderful > calming effect. Thank you!
Well, one of my middle names is Proze-Ac(ademic) ... in a world of pissy proze a shared meal can work wonders. One of the ways the Indonesians integrated into Dutch society was the way in which the Dutch massively embraced their "rijsttafel" (rice table) - a table with one big bowl of rice and 30 to 50 small bowls of a wide variety of dishes, meat, vegetables, fish, tofu, spicy, sweetish, pickled, fried, etc. Everyone is supposed to take a plate of rice and just taste a tiny bit of the other dishes that look attractive. The rice is the actual food. You always finish the rice on your plate. All the rest is 'shared spice of life'. A rice table is a calming experience. It takes time. It is different every time. And it makes you realize that the essence, the food, is simple (rice, just rice). How you spice up your food is up to you. But whatever you pick, you always share certain choices with others. And you talk about what you share. As a result, you are always almost automatically invited to try out things you have never seen before, just because someone else enjoys it. Food as a sharing experience can be so soothing. I believe that sharing food - particularly preparing meals together - can be a katalyst in solving problems. But then ... I am slightly ;-)) overweight. Would it work on a larger scale? Locking up Arafat and Sharon together in a kitchen and ask them to prepare a big meal for a combined family dinner in private? I must be naive.
