Food and faith


Eddie Gimore, Community Leader writes:


We like our food in L’Arche, and I can still remember my very first meal in Kent. It was home-made tuna pizza, eaten with a motley crew of twenty people around the big Little Ewell dining table. I enjoyed the food and also the light banter around the table. Good food shared with a fine and varied bunch of people: I knew it was the place for me. Whenever Geoffrey draws a picture for a birthday card it is always a group of people around a meal table, and I wonder what better image there is of community.
Certainly no community gathering would be complete without food, not to mention people’s favourite dishes. A few years ago there was a plan to stop having fish and chips at our monthly gatherings to save money. There was an outcry from the core members. The fish and chips were promptly reinstated!
A highlight of my winter was going up to Edinburgh with Vince for a meeting. Vince was very generously buying me drinks and crisps on the train and it was a pleasure to sit there, two old friends eating and drinking together and enjoying the lovely East coast scenery. When we arrived at The Noust in Edinburgh we were greeted with a cup of tea (where would L’Arche be without tea!) and then shared a delicious Indian takeaway with the rest of the group. It was a good meeting!
These days I don’t often eat in the L’Arche houses, but in my family we retain the L’Arche traditions. The mealtime is a key moment in the Gilmore household, and we join hands and sing grace (to the occasional embarrassment of the children if they have friends round!). The table is always set nicely and the food is always good. The company isn’t bad either! And when it is somebody’s birthday we make an extra special effort. I enjoyed preparing Yimsoon’s birthday meal not so long ago: lots of starters, the mother of all curries, and all washed down with a bottle of champagne (well, sort of, it sparkled at any rate!) We were too full for desserts so had them the next day!

As in any L’Arche house, the preparation, the serving and the sharing of the food are ways in which we communicate to people that we care for them and that they matter. And at a birthday in particular, we tell a person that they are special and valuable, and that really we all are and that life is pretty good and worth celebrating. Bon Appetit!

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