Food as Community: A Reflection

Sharing a meal isn’t just to feed the body; it is to feed the soul.

When we gather over a meal, we share our lives, our histories, and our cultures. We can connect, reconnect, and find time together to simply exist. Historical records have found evidence of shared meals throughout human history. For instance, a 300,000-year-old hearth was discovered and there is evidence that people gathered around it to share a meal.

The Islamic Food Bank provides meals for big celebrations – Thanksgiving, Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha – but it also provides meals for smaller celebrations such as for a great report card, a new job, or a family reuniting at the end of their day after work and school. We know the flavors associated with our holidays – stuffing and cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, the sweetness of a chewy date during Ramadan, and roasted lamb on Eid al-Adha. How can we make our memories of an average night around the dinner table just as powerful?

Seasoning.

I have always been the person with dozens of bottles of seasoning from different cultures – berbere from Eritrea, garam masala from India, maple syrup from Michigan. At any time, I can find my old standbys or something new to create a memorable meal for family and friends. “Remember that roast you made at Christmas? We made one like it the other night and reminded us of how after dinner, we roasted marshmallows in the wood-burning stove!”

At IFB, we are able to provide nutritious food to thousands of people each year. As our Executive Director Dr. Razi Rafeeq says, “We serve our guests the food that we would serve to our families or guests in our own homes.” It is important to us that we are able to provide our guests not only with the basics to make a meal, but the extras to make a meal memorable.

We are blessed to have the opportunity to provide a variety of seasonings and spices to our pantry guests and we need your help to do it. Through your donations, we were able to purchase bulk spices from Costco but they must be repackaged into smaller portions before we can stock them in our pantries.

Keep an eye out for opportunities to help package spices so our guests can create those happy memories of sharing delicious meals with loved ones.

This piece was previously published in our October/November 2023 newsletter.