don't be a bangchang

Laura and I went to the Folklife Festival on the national mall this year. Featured were NASA (what?), Texas (eh), and Bhutan. Naturally we spent most of our time in Bhutan (located between India, Tibet, and China, FYI).

My favorite thing to hit up at these events is the cooking shows, so we stopped by the Bhutan Kitchen. Everyone was asking a man and a woman about the food used in Bhutanese cooking. Some people were showing off their knowledge of eastern cuisine. Do you eat sampa in Bhutan? And can you explain to everyone what sampa is?

After countless questions about specific ingredients, the host took a moment to explain the cultural practice of eating in Bhutan. He said, In Bhutan, we do not live to eat. We eat to live. It is seen as a necessity. We do not kill animals to eat, out of respect for life. Many Buddhists do not consider that they are feeding themselves, but that they are making an offering to the Buddhas inside them.

This is definitely in contrast to the way I eat. I live to eat, for sure. I'm constantly entertaining myself with food and thinking about my next meal. I'm not sure what exactly 'the Buddhas' inside you means, but I do appreciate the idea of eating as more of a spiritual practice than just stuffing your face. I think most religions that I have heard of view eating as a spiritual and often communal practice.

I rarely went to church this past year, as I had sold my soul to the devil. Well...I mean, normally I went into work on Sundays, so....potato, potahto.

Anyway, I have been glad to get back to CR this summer. Now, none of my friends who used to go to church with me live in the area anymore, so I just go alone. I'm secure enough to at least sit there alone, even though no one ever sits in the chairs to my immediate right or left. It's an unspoken rule, you know? Don't sit directly next to someone you don't know unless you have exhausted all other possibilities. But I digress...

One of the preachers (ministers? whatever) was talking about communion. She said how, whatever your beliefs about it, communion is meant to be a type of meal. It's a normal, everyday habit that can be a way to listen to God and be in community with other people. If we approach it that way and make it a habit to listen to God, every meal can be a type of communion.

She then announced that we were going to have Ice Cream Communion after regular communion. I was so pumped. Then she said that there would be color-coded slips of paper so that you could find people who lived in the same area as you and talk with them based on conversation starters.

Oh. I dislike organized conversation, especially when I am alone and become that girl that other people think they have to involve and befriend. So, I peaced out on Ice Cream Communion. But I like the idea.