Community Meal - reflection

Harvested on 9/16/2008
Prepared on 9/25/2008
Served and enjoyed on 9/26/2008
Reflection due on 10/3/2008

Thanks again to all of the people who made this meal possible and a special thanks to Jim for inviting us to his farm to pick pears and berries.

Reflection:

Our community can be defined many different ways. In general, it is the supporting network of where we live, play, go to school and meet/interact with other people. It is important to continue to build ties within our community and food plays a central role in many communities. It strengthens bonds and brings people together to share their lives and enjoy the company of each other.

This year, you traveled to Jim’s farm to pick pears that you then prepared into a dish for your peers. By doing this, you were able to see the process of bringing in food from the harvest, to preparing food, to inviting others to participate in your meal, to serving food to others. Wow! What a great time! Thanks for all of your hard work in making this a wonderful experience.

Whenever you invest your time and energy into a project, it is a healthy act to think back over what you did and what it means to you. As a reflection, please do the following two parts in a way that is thoughtful, beautiful and captures the meaning of harvesting, preparing and serving food to our SES community.

Written Reflection

Please write a one-page reflection that addresses the following points (it does not have to be in this order but should flow from one idea to another):

1. What does community mean to you?
2. What role does food play in your community?
3. In a retelling of your story, describe everything that you did that went into the serving of this meal. Make sure that you include events that led up to the meal: harvesting pears, preparing the meal, creating invitations, writing thank you notes (why is this important?) serving the meal, etc.
4. What did you learn through this experience?
5. How do you think community can be strengthened when lots of people come together to share food?
6. What was fun about this experience?
7. Describe any other fun/interesting side story that took place during any of the stages of this experience.

Creative Piece

How can you capture this entire experience (harvesting, preparing, inviting, serving)? Using at least one page, make a creative piece using photos, drawings, a poem or any other idea that you may have. The goal is to make a beautiful and creative piece that invokes the memory of your Community Meal experience and a sense of celebration.