Our memories of food: they can take us back to the heady aromas of our grandmother’s cooking, negotiations around the contents of lunchboxes, an incident at the family breakfast table, the stench of compulsory school dinners and the hollow pain of going without.
Is our first food memory that of our mother’s milk? Maybe so. Often, because nourishing food and adequate shelter tend to go together, good food memories are about a feeling of home – of warmth, community and belonging. These memories can both feed and comfort us.
Then there is the tyranny of the diet and the scale, the spiritual practice of the fast, the rituals of gathering, growing and cooking food communally, wedding feasts and funeral fare, the rhythm and routine of preparation and mealtimes – these are imbued with aspects of our humanity that we can explore through writing.
In this course, based on our established Life Writing Memoir Course, we will use exercises to write stories that focus on all the senses and emotions conjured by food. We will share those memories and also share our food – bringing to the communal lunch table a simple edible memory, a part of who we are expressed in what we eat.
DATE: Saturday April 20th 2024
TIME: 0930 to 1730
VENUE: Fisherman's Quay, Marina da Gama
FACILITATORS: Giles Griffin
FEE: R900