The Imu Ceremony: How Food Traditions Unify Community
Uniquely Place-Based, Globally Connected
At ICWF we talk a lot about the connecting power of food – how it connects us to ourselves, to our heritage and to each other’s heritages. It’s through the lens of food we create experiences that unify communities while exploring the history and traditions that have become a part of our shared stories. Indeed food systems are not just ecosystems of agricultural production, but ecosystems of social interactions just as well.
To build these connections, we must be willing to listen and learn from the people around us. Over the course of the three days at ICWF, we will ask you to push yourselves beyond what you’re comfortable with, to hear from people you may never have otherwise crossed paths with, to eat food you would never have tried, and to build something you have never built before.
At the center of our experience, you will find the ritual preparation of a traditional Hawaiian imu - an underground oven. The imu ritual serves as a well suited illustration of the overarching themes of the summit – as it is both deeply community oriented and a uniquely place-based, yet globally connected ceremony.
Variations of kalua, the process of cooking in the imu or underground oven, can be found around the world. The adaptions and incorporation of new ingredients change with demographics, landscapes and generations and provide an ongoing example of the ways that communities bring their traditions and recipes as a piece of home with them as they establish new roots.