In Paris last summer I befriended a man from Brazil named Daniel who I connected with over food. He was a foodie, and I was an aspiring foodie. We spoke about our favorite international cuisine — Brazilian churrasco, Uighur laghman — as well as French dishes we were hoping to try. At one point in our conversation, Daniel and I started to discuss how, in our experience, food was the best avenue to experience a culture. If you want to understand what it means to be a Kazakh, we agreed, sit at a Kazakh table. Then, as our conversation was drawing to a close, Daniel turned to me and exclaimed, “Food is the only way that culture enters into you.” I was struck by his words; they felt prophetic.
Despite the challenges of globalism, one great benefit is the glimpse it gives into what is described in Revelation where people from “every nation, tribe, people and language” stand before the throne of God and worship the Lamb. Globalization, and the technology that powers it, brings the world to our doorstep (and we, to the world’s). Thus, we are given opportunity to taste and see the creativity of God expressed through a myriad of cultures.
Granted, the tragic irony of globalism and its industrial mechanisms is that it tends to trample the cultures it seeks to celebrate. As people are displaced from their localities—the communities and places that made them—they are deprived of their cultural nourishment. Without a concerted effort by its members, under the cultural pressures of their new place and the passage of time, what survives in them is only a trace of their origins. In this way, the culture of an immigrant family, as generations pass, is diluted so that only a remnant of it remains. Another example can be found in the food industry: just as Papa John’s offers a cheap substitute for a genuine Italian pizza, or a frozen chimichanga sold at Walmart rips off its true counterpart, so the industry has a way of parodying genuine culture—it imitates culture for mass production and inevitably strips its unique value.
Even so, I believe the table stands as the final bulwark against the tyranny of globalism and its vehicles. For the table represents what is antithetical to industry. Industry prizes efficiency over everything else; the table values relationship. Industry cheapens experiences, resources, persons; the table celebrates and raises their value. Industry sacrifices persons in favor of commodities; the table sacrifices commodities in favor of community. Industry deprives culture of its nourishment and the context necessary for it to prosper; the table provides an environment for culture to prosper. At the table, as my friend so eloquently stated, culture enters into you.
The culture of the fast-food restaurant is a manufactured non-culture. Everything about the experience of eating at a place like McDonalds is curated to frame consumers’ experiences. The food is mass produced, without the creativity, particularity, and intentionality that makes a homecooked meal so delightful. To make up for its shortcomings, these restaurant chains often resort to hijacking our baser instincts—serving us all the fats and sugars we can contain. The consequence is not only the deterioration of our culture but also our bodies. In America, industry consumes real culture so only a trace of it is left.
Therefore, in such an age I think it is tantamount for the church to become a people of the table. In a globalized world, where displaced peoples are everywhere, we need to practice hospitality and create space for cultures to flourish and be preserved. My hope is that my table, and the table of my house church, will increasingly look like what we read about in Revelation, where people from every culture and every generation gather around one table to partake of the wedding supper of the Lamb. I like to imagine that feast will be a potluck—everyone will bring their favorite cultural dish and we will witness the fullest expression of God’s love through food.
What I found so wonderful about my friend’s statement was that it put into words something about the Lord’s Supper that had never occurred to me. As we partake in communion, not only are we able to enjoy the culture of the Kingdom of God in community with our brothers and sisters from all times, places, and cultures, but the Kingdom itself enters into us. We, along with those who share our meal, are transformed into the likeness of the one who is himself our provision.
Yes, at the table! Together! Thank you for another great insight, Michael.
Understanding “industry” as the “culture of America” explains succinctly why I’ve never been able to pinpoint “American” culture before. Really great read!