If you're a traveller you know how hard it can be to satiate that bug when you're home. Food is one of the easiest ways to relive the memories as well as share them with others, without booking a plane ticket. This blog is for the express purpose of piecing together my thoughts as I journey through a favorite cookbook: Extending the Table, a World Community Cookbook. I've never encountered a food book that took me to more places than this one. Chock full of stories from experiences in the countries each recipe was gleaned, cultural mealtime traditions, anecdotes, proverbs and prayers, I am reminded of the brotherhood of humanity in the gathering of hearts and hands around the fruit of the earth, around the table.
I first encountered this cookbook from a former housemate, Lisa. My first recipes with it were Chickpeas in Coconut Milk, from Tanzania, and traditional Nepali chai to serve at a gathering of friends. I was thrilled with the prospect of having at my disposal tasty, inexpensive recipes which I could actually look up according to country. Just thinking about thumbing through that index makes my mouth water over India and reminisce over Thailand. But more than anything, I long to reach out and participate in some small way in the daily lives of my sisters in Ethiopia and my brothers in Columbia, read their stories, picture myself sitting alongside the woman in her hut as I roll out the dough for a meal. Learn the true meaning of hospitality and thanksgiving from those who live in nations which are decidedly less glutted than my own. In this way the table is extended. For those who happen to be reading, may you get a taste of a bit of this sure to be joyful journey.
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