Taste of Religion!

By far one of our most successful events this year has been Taste of Religion, drawing over 50 students.  I borrowed this idea from a Stanford University student I met at an interfaith leadership conference at Princeton University.  It goes like this: people submit tasty recipies, we have them made, we bring them to a public space, everyone on campus is free to partake, and we learn something along the way!  The purpose of this event is to raise awarness about the diversity of religions represented on our campus and the kinds of awesome cultural things that come with being religious, namely FOOD!

One of our beloved Interfaith Coordinators, Mary Krauszer, made us an awesome poster to help attract people to our event, which we held in the Piano Lounge in the SUB.  The line for was to the right, and to the left you can see Mary signing up for some cool interfaith and community service opportunities for this year.

The table had two sides, and in front of each item there was a brief statement about the food, where it comes from, why it is important, and who submitted the recipe.  Here you can see some people loading up their plates for the feast:

We had submissions from a variety of traditions, including Methodist Christian, Lutheran Christian, Jainism, NeoPaganism, Baha’i, Islam, and Judaism, among others!  Check out Mary’s awesome veggie “meat” balls, which represent traditional Swedish meat balls that are often a part of the Lutheran religious/cultural heritage: 

A man who strives for inclusion and equality on campus, our university chaplain Dave Wright was eager to supply a food item common to many cultures and traditions that complemented our other selections:

After a while, we had our recipe submitters gather in the Piano Lounge where many people were enjoying their food.  They shared what they brought, why they brought it, and any other fascinating and relevant tidbits about how religion and culture has shaped their identity. 

Overall this event was a huge hit, and we vowed to make the inclusion of food a more-or-less fundamental aspect of any future interfaith events we host.  In fact, this event was so successful that the Interfaith Council decided to change their club name to Taste of Religion!