Sunday Family Dinner

The original Sunday Family Dinner was something that I was never physically a part of, but was able to experience as a participant at one of the future incarnations of the event. The event disbanded long before I became friends with those who hosted it. I’m sure many versions popped up here and there, but the version I was a part was poker night, thanksgiving, cooking baking, etc. 

The concept behind this was to get together every Sunday, someone would be the master chef of the evening and those attending and eating would pitch in the help the cooking process. How things worked always changed. Some weekends it would be on person bringing all the ingredients, other weekends we’d take a group adventure out to pick up what we needed.

The food was generally fantastic and each weekend provided the opportunity to learn how to make something you may have not known how to make and the poker game usually involved many laughs and stiff competition.

But to me, the food, the games, the laughs were not the heart of the event. It was the connection and community. We brought together busy people who lived in different geographic locations of the city and sometimes country.

The other wonder of this event was the different people. There were couples, singles, kids, twenty-some things, parents, friends-of-friends, people we knew well, people we hardly ever saw, parents of friends, puppies, multiple religions, people of differing political backgrounds, festies, non-festies, theater majors, business people, you name it, they were usually represented (granted, one person may make up many of these categories) and the best part was the fact that it was non-judgmental. It was pretty amazing to throw out the things that keep people separated and to just be.

We all lead such busy lives. Some of us fall out of touch with people or never really get a chance to get to know them, which is one of the reasons why I am so nostalgic for this event to happen. I’ve met so many great people, but rarely if ever get a chance to talk with them out of a work capacity or outside of my life that’s overrun by work. I consider many dear friends, yet realize that I probably barely know them.

But, what if there was an event that happened regularly, themed around connection and community that sought to provoke discussions, teamwork, and the eating of good food? Would it change that?

I think it could, which is why I want to try to institute Sunday family dinner out here with the wonderful people I know.

I dream that:

-it would occur once-a-month

-many people would feel welcome to come and that they wouldn’t ever doubt their invitation or comfort in participating

-All cooking be done as a group and would feature different recipes with someone different taking the lead each dinner

-it would happen on a day that the greatest number of people could attend

-there would be a good location or a rotating location with access to kitchen appliances and a decent amount of space.

-people would come

-those people would be co-workers from different locations, dorm mates, whoever

-there would be a desire to converse and build connections and relationships as a group of people

-if there were no kitchen open locations that cooking could happen, maybe it could start as a visit to different restaurants once a month.

-it actually happens and is not lost as a dream.