Building & Nurturing Community with Food

How Food is a Tool for Building & Supporting our Communities

At some point today, you will stop to eat. You might be at home or in a restaurant, at a table, at your desk, standing at your kitchen sink or on the street next to a food truck. You might be with family, friends, colleagues, or on your own. But no matter where you are, who you’re with, or the taste of your meal you will be in the company of the workers, farmers, cooks, entrepreneurs, drivers, and storytellers who made it possible for you to eat. You will be in the company of the people who grow, harvest, and process ingredients as well as those who, out of creativity or necessity, combined flavors, tastes, and smells and turned them into the cuisines we love. Whether we’re with friends and family, colleagues, or on our own – food can bring our attention to these myriad communities who too often go underappreciated.

 Food, of course, also helps us build communities of our own. When we prepare and share food, we create opportunities for people to find togetherness in the most routine of acts. A shared meal gives us the opportunity to express and honor our cultures and traditions, all while prompting the telling of stories that help us see ourselves in each other.  Food then, is a tool for both building community and for calling us to support our communities.

How food can help us understand our roles in and across communities is a central theme of ICWF. In bringing together people from agriculture, food service, retail, business, media, and culture to share experiences and stories, discuss issues, and learn about each other, we are building a community of purpose – one which can celebrate together while working to support each other in our various quests for positive change. Through the community we build around the ICWF table, we hope to support the communities all along throughout the food system that make such celebrations possible.