Please Watch We Feed People

 

Do you remember Opie? He was the red-headed kid on the Andy Griffith Show, a TV sitcom of the 1960's set in a small town in the American South. If you do recall the show and can still whistle the theme song then, yes, you are old, as we are. Unlike other child stars Ron Howard, aka Opie, stayed in the business with a star turn in another popular sitcom, Happy Days, before becoming an accomplished movie director with a bunch of critical and box office hits -- think of Cocoon. 

I've been looking forward to Howard's latest documentary which is called We Feed People, released on Disney/National Geographic this past weekend. It is about the work of World Central Kitchen, with the founder, Chef Jose Andres , front and centre. Andres prefers to be called a cook, but he had a meteoric rise as a celebrity chef in the United States, even though he is originally from Spain. Along with starting a bunch of high-end restaurants Andres became a media star and published books and that could have been the story of his accomplished life.

In 2010 he decided to respond to the devastation in Haiti brought about by the earthquake. He wanted to feed people so went to Haiti even though he had no experience in disaster relief. His restaurants specialize in presenting exquisitely arrayed, tiny portions of food for well-heeled patrons to savour.  In Haiti he quickly learned how to feed large numbers of people, stumbling his way into the best ways to respond. 

                                                World Central Kitchen has provided 31 million meals 

Andres is a brilliant, driven, larger-than-life man who has now dedicated more than a decade to feeding people affected by what we call natural disasters, although they are often accelerated by human-made climate change. In the early days he was spending his own money and using his fame to run up huge bills for the food he brought in. Over time he's built response teams with a powerful ethos of taking food to the people, where they live. 

Instead of importing meagre "meals ready to eat" (MRE) these teams establish kitchens to create thousands of hot, delicious meals. Andres and his cohorts draw on locals to help with the preparation of the food and consult with them on what is appropriate for the culture. Beans mashed in one dish, cabbage chopped rather than shredded in another. We see the contrast between his restaurant micro-portions and the vats of steaming food which looks delicious just the same. 

There are scenes of team members moving through neighbourhoods feeding elders who are stuck in their homes, dodging debris and chaos as they go. A child on a bicycle directs them to the houses of people who are most in need which is very biblical, it seems to me. 

A lot of things have been percolating through my brain since we watched We Feed People on Sunday evening. There are a lot of stories in the gospels of Jesus eating, consorting with the supposed riff-raff. And ya, he feeds people when there isn't enough -- the Loaves and Fishes story is in all four gospels, with that kid and his basket. Then, just before Jesus is arrested and executed there is a final meal, the Last Supper. 

I was also aware that people of faith feed people. Our home congregation, Trenton UC, has a meal ministry with dedicated volunteers, as does Bridge St. UC in Belleville. On Monday morning Ruth headed to Bridge St. for her regular stint distributing meals, something which has happened out of their kitchen every single day since the pandemic began. Ruth often shares vignettes of the exchanges with guests, nearly all of whom are grateful. Some of the people are funny, some are a bit crazy (aren't we all?), but they are all fed. 

We know that it is imperative to provide the basics of life for every member of society, and that the "soup kitchen" is not the ultimate answer. Yet there is something powerful in the directness of feeding others and of demonstrating compassion and dignity in the process. "We feed people, in body, mind, and spirit" could be the motto of every Christian congregation, regardless of background. 

If you can, watch We Feed People. It is inspiring and it may provoke worthwhile conversations as a result. 

                                                                    Jesus and the Loaves & Fishes