Among the memories etched on my imagination is that of the open kitchens in the community in which I grew up in Guyana, from which mouth-watering smells of an array of cooked food would linger around long enough to help hungry young people know which yard to enter. People may have been poor, but like my mother and aunts, they cooked as if they were preparing a meal to feed more than 5,000. Their view is that you can never tell who will turn up for a meal and that hospitality begins with eating. The habit of abundance and generosity around food was lived in an unassuming and practical way and it has stayed with me. I love cooking, but more importantly I enjoy eating a good meal in company.

One of the things that stayed with me from quite early as a result of the diverse religious landscape in which I grew up and later while living in various parts of the Caribbean, is the central place of food and eating in one’s practice of faith. Whatever the religious tradition – food is at its heart. I am not referring here to teas, biscuits and nibbles – I mean a full and proper meal. Hospitality as practiced through meals was what I saw all around me.

This is an extract from the September 2010 issue of Reform.

Read more articles by Michael Jagessar

Subscribe to Reform

Related articles:

1. Alison Micklem – Community-minded: Bonding over food
2. Michael Jagessar’s Mini Resurrections: The wonder of words
3. Michael Jagessar’s Mini Resurrections: There is room
4. Michael Jagessar’s Mini Resurrections: Positive Vibrations
5. Michael Jagessar’s Mini Resurrections: Compost spirituality

Follow @Reform_Mag