I am currently on a course called "Food: Creation, Community, and Communion," held on Galiano Island, one of the Gulf Islands off the west coast of British Columbia. I am one of 25 Regent College students who are privileged to be participating in this course in its inaugural offering. It is being taught and hosted by Mary Ruth and Loren Wilkinson, who have taught me (separately) in other courses I've taken at Regent.
So far, we have had a busy time. Our general daily rhythm is lectures in the mornings and rest or chores in the afternoons. We have 50+ pages of reading for each class and some evenings we watch food related movies.
On Sunday night the class arrived at Galiano Island (rather late) and we had gingerbread for dessert and settled into our places of sleep. I am staying at the Fee/Martin house, about 7 minutes walk from the Wilkinson's farmhouse. It has a beautiful view of the water, looking out on Salt Spring Island.
Monday morning saw us consume crepes and multiple toppings for breakfast, before our first lecture in the Wilkinson's living room. Our scripture reading was from Luke, where Jesus invites his disciples for breakfast on the beach. We then introduced ourselves to the class, saying where we were from (before Regent) and why we had come to the course. It was amazing how diverse and how similar many of our answers were!
Mary Ruth then spoke about the main components of a meal: tongue, table, guests and grace. She read two children's books, An Angel for Solomon Singer and Mrs Moskowitz and the Sabbath Candlesticks, and based her lecture on our two readings (selections from Margaret Visser, The Rituals of Dinner, and Leon Kass, The Hungry Soul). It was interesting to see how aspects of a meal we take for granted are quite significant in "being human."
For lunch we had nettle soup (yes, some of the nettles we picked and prepared, Nath) and "biscuits" (scones). Then my group had a 'rest day' so I read and napped in the afternoon.
I picked my 'daily quote' from the required reading for our class anthology from Visser, page 14: "…(the Maori word tapu is the origin of our “taboo”)…" It formed part of a discussion of the etiquette of cannibalism amongst Maori and other cultural groups! I thought it was particularly interesting, given my understanding of tapu as holy, and its use for conserving resources in local areas.
Dinner was kedgeree. Yum! It was an opportunity to put some 'cultural context' around the food. I know kedgeree as a British breakfast dish, derived from India (when occupied by the British). This was confirmed by our two UK students, Debbie and Esther. I explained this to Soohwan, our Korean friend who has spent a lot of time in Bangladesh, and she laughed: "Kidgeree is a dish made from leftovers or the mash fed to babies! I've never had it with smoked fish."
After dinner there was a showing of a Danish film (with subtitles), Babette's Feast. It explored community, acceptance, gratitude, and generosity. A fine way to end our first day.
