Food for Racial Thought
Humanizing Humans One Meal at a Time
Eight years ago I attended a Ramadan feast in Boulder, Colorado at a local Mosque. The Jewish and Muslim communities both coming off of religious fasts had decided to end their hunger together. No politics. No discussions over Israel or Palestine. None of that chatter.
Radical, I know. Just some falafel, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, cucumber tomato salad, and some dessert called kunafah. Coupled with regular conversations about family, careers, hiking in Colorado, and the like. We started friendships.
I hadn’t thought about my trip to the Mosque for a while, but last week I had the pleasure and honor of having dinner with three Saudi students attending law school in Denver. My conversations with them were not unlike conversations I have with any other group of new friends. We got to know each other. Talked about our families and career goals. We laughed and joked and laughed and joked some more about everything from dating to Dave Chapelle to Donald Trump. We shared our travels. We salivated over the delicious food. We shared our thoughts about corona.
I left our multi-hour dinner feeling more hopeful than I had in a while. Not only did I just get to know three amazing men, each with their own unique talents, dreams, and stories, but on a deeper level, I knew that…
