


Terry Cullen
May 29, 2024
Norway
Categories:
War and Peace, Culinary Arts, Food and Recipes, Community Projects, Civic Engagement
Ingeborg Heggheim Tappel’s "Sharing Meals - Building Peace" thesis explores how sharing meals can facilitate reconciliation and promote peacebuilding through culinary diplomacy. The study examines commensality (eating together) and its potential to transform adversarial relationships.
Tappel identifies three levels of peacebuilding: top-level, mid-level, and community-level, emphasizing the impact of shared meals, particularly at the top level. The thesis highlights how culinary diplomacy builds on traditional practices of using meals to foster relationships and negotiations.
A key example is conflict resolution workshops in Cyprus, where communal meals and dancing helped Turkish and Greek Cypriots transform their perceptions of each other. These activities emphasized shared identities as Mediterranean islanders, illustrating how dining together can shift identities and promote reconciliation.
Tappel discusses the symbolic dimension of conflict, arguing that symbolic actions like sharing meals address underlying worldviews. Rituals and commensality engage senses and emotions, aiding understanding and reconciliation. Drawing on Schirch’s work, Tappel underscores the role of rituals in reshaping worldviews and fostering identity transformation, which is crucial for healing and creating shared identities in conflicts.
The thesis concludes that the role of sharing meals in peacebuilding is often undervalued. Tappel emphasizes its transformative potential, advocating for integrating symbolic and ritualistic elements into traditional conflict resolution practices.
Based on the insights from Ingeborg Heggheim Tappel's study, here are ten practical actions you can implement in your local community to promote peacebuilding through sharing meals:
1. Community Potlucks: Organize regular community potluck dinners where everyone brings a dish. This encourages sharing and helps people from different backgrounds interact and bond over food.
2. Cultural Food Festivals: Host cultural food festivals showcasing diverse cuisines from different ethnic groups in your community. This can help people appreciate each other's cultures and traditions.
3. Conflict Resolution Workshops with Shared Meals: Incorporate shared meals into conflict resolution workshops to create a relaxed and open atmosphere where participants feel more comfortable engaging in dialogue.
4. Cooking Classes: Offer cooking classes that teach participants to prepare dishes from various cultures. Cooking together can be a fun and educational way to build relationships.
5. Family Dinner Nights: Organize family dinner nights at local community centers where families can come together, cook, and eat. This can strengthen family bonds and community ties.
6. Food Exchange Programs: Create a food exchange program where community members swap homemade meals or food items. This can help build trust and a sense of shared community.
7. Community Gardens: Start a community garden where people can grow their own food and share the harvest. Working together in the garden can foster cooperation and understanding.
8. Shared Meals in Schools: Implement programs in schools where students share meals and learn about each other’s cultures. This can promote inclusivity and mutual respect from a young age.
9. Dining Dialogues: Host “dining dialogues” where small groups of community members share a meal and discuss important community issues. This can help bridge divides and encourage collaborative problem-solving.
10. Holiday Meal Events: Organize community meals around major holidays from different cultures, inviting everyone to participate and learn about each other’s traditions and celebrations.
By incorporating these actions into your community, you can help foster an environment of understanding, respect, and cooperation consistent with the principles outlined in Tappel's study.
Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash.
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Catalog #:
0524.100.02.053024