World Dinner in Bradford
The local and youth development workers for Yorkshire hosted a team based dinner game with an international food justice theme. Some twenty Friends, including several families, gathered in Bradford Meeting House for the 'chance to enjoy a meal with a difference!'
Teams of mixed ages were allocated a 'country' from a varied selection, including Belgium, Guatemala, and South Sudan. They were given some basic information about their country's comparative wealth and assorted 'issues', 'constraints' and 'vulnerabilities'. Each team was allotted 'money', the value of which would rise and fall throughout the evening, according to external factors, which reflected their status and place in the global economy.
When it came to actually being fed, not only was the order of each table being served determined by the comparative wealth of the 'country', but each course had to be 'paid for', in turn, too. So one's national good or ill fortune had individual consequences.
No-one went 'without' food (the catering was excellent!). However, all was not equal, and some had much more than others as a taste of the different experiences in different countries.
The whole game served as a wonderful 'prompt', and to explore the sense of justice around all of this, and how matters might be arranged otherwise. It offered plenty of insights about power and influence and general 'fairness' in the world today.
One Friend, David Heslop, reflected, they 'welcomed its ambition, seeing real possibilities in extending the idea for further learning and sharing'.