“We as a class gather around a table, and we create shared experiences through food for us to start the conversation of what it means to love all of our neighbors.”
Learning to love our neighbors well and to have the humility to do so has been a recurring lesson that Rebekah Whitaker, associate professor of communication arts, has taught in her courses. This semester she has had the opportunity to teach this lesson by cooking for the students in her Intercultural Communication class, and I have been blessed to be part of this experience.
“This class used to be taught by the Intercultural Studies Program, and just last semester it was transferred to the Comms Department. It made sense to be a part of our program, but more specifically for me, based on my area of study, interpersonal communication,” Whitaker said with an array of degrees hanging on the wall behind her.
Whitaker explained to me that she loves to cook for people. I have experienced the joy that cooking brings her, and it is evident that Whitaker truly enjoys teaching this class and challenging students to step outside of their comfort zones and to better themselves.
“It’s not about just eating the meals, but it’s the time spent together,” Whitaker said. “When you see someone make something like a dumpling from scratch, you know that it’s a labor of love and care for another person … Creating a dish that we didn’t really know what we were doing was a beautiful moment we shared.”
Allison Whitworth, a senior communication studies major, has experienced the positive environment that Whitaker has fostered in the classroom.
“I think having Foodie Friday helps the lectures become more enjoyable and conversational, which helps my learning,” Whitworth said, smiling. “Dr. Whitaker does a good job of creating that environment … Having these meals together makes it a more hands-on experience, and that helps us draw connections from the theories we are learning in lectures to real-world conversations and meals.”
When we had our first Foodie Friday together, I thought that it would be a simple meal. I walked into the room expecting to just laugh and have a fun time. Of course, we do this, but there is more value in the conversations we have about the countries students have been researching throughout the semester. Without a doubt, Foodie Friday is education.
“If we just had simple conversations while we are eating these foods, we might struggle seeing the educational value,” Whitaker said. “We don’t just talk. We don’t just say, ‘Hey, this is where this dish is from’ and move on. There is something more to it. There are stories behind this dish and [learning] why people consume what they consume.”
Whitworth agrees that Foodie Friday is educational just for the mere fact that each student is assigned a country and responsible for researching a cultural dish — the process of its preparation, the ingredients included, its cultural significance and the economic aspects related to its creation.
For me, having hands-on activities benefits my learning and helps me draw connections between the countries we have discussed in previous conversations and also the theories that we have been learning throughout the semester. Having Foodie Friday is more effective than a traditional class, and Whitaker agrees.
“Some contexts are too unfamiliar for many of our students,” Whitaker said. “It’s hard to connect with the idea that you might experience culture shock if you have never been in a different culture than your own. I could not have created a culture shock experience in our classroom, but I can help you understand how someone might miss their food from their home when they come here and how even that simple comfort isn’t there to sustain them.”
Despite having these meals every Friday together, we do not get the whole picture of what the culture is really like. Whitaker has felt this difficulty throughout the semester, not while she prepares the dishes, but when she lectures on why we are informing ourselves of different cultures from our own.
“It’s really hard to talk about other cultures that we have not experienced,” Whitaker said. “I have to make sure that we are all representing them the way they want to be represented. We have to be honest, truthful, gracious and merciful. We need to treat them as image bearers of God. There’s a weighty responsibility there … the cooking part is not the hard part.”
During this semester, I have grown to approach cultures that are unfamiliar to me with humility. My classmates have, too. There has been a significant difference from the first meal we had together to the most recent. In the beginning, everyone was showing up just because there was food on the table and because we had to be there. Now, everyone shows up with the humility and determination to learn, and we have all found new confidence in being uncomfortable with unfamiliarity.
“This class has grown my confidence in knowing that I can ask questions if I don’t know something about someone or someone’s culture,” Whitworth said. “We have the freedom to ask them about that and learn about it because that’s how you grow relationships with people. It’s actually getting to know their culture, to know how they live.”