1 minute read
Foreword
from Book - Biola
by Maria Weyne
by Bryan Moe
All food has meaning. And we need, from time to time, to pull back a little bit to see we are swimming in a sea of that meaning. The meanings may change with the tide, but the waves are relentless, always there, waiting for us to decode and engage. Lucky for us, food is an invitation to discovery — of self, of others, and more importantly of how we all fit together.
Advertisement
Food is one of the reasons we get up and go to work every day — to make sure it is available for ourselves and loved ones. Too often a lack of it is a reason to cause harm to others and even fight wars.
In this book, a collection of student writers, photojournalists and multimedia storytellers have found windows of meaning in the food and the people who prepare and serve that food in culturally diverse Asian communities across the U.S. and in Southern California. By using all of their senses these students have asked deep questions about how food plays into identity, security, authenticity, and faith. Now more than ever their insights are needed to give us another glimpse into lived stories in and around food. The stories they found reveal struggle, pain, love, and the overcoming of obstacles, of barriers.
Right now, during a pandemic, when it feels like the heat has been turned to high on social discord, perhaps food is a way to bring the temperature back down, or at least repurpose it into flames that grill up some seasonal veggies.
Even if we don’t break physical bread with our neighbors every day, these stories serve as a kind of shared communion. With this communion we can lift up the voices that don’t get heard enough; maybe the glimpse in these pages will create enough attention to our problems of alienation to push forward some solutions for greater unity. Even if it is one Spring Roll or meat filled bun at a time.
Bryan W. Moe is an Assistant Professor in Communication Studies. His research finds itself at the intersection of rhetoric, social movements, and food. Recent publications include chapters in and Handbook for Food and Popular Culture (2018) and Global Brooklyn: Designing Food Experiences in World Cities (2021).
