"Enjoy Your Food!” From Around the World

It has been my experience that food is a great connector – where there is food, there is the potential for community! Sharing with others about our home language can also be a bridge that helps us to connect. It’s an opportunity to appreciate and marvel at how our languages are similar and how they differ.

Potlucks are an ideal place to harness both the power of sharing food and language to build community as they often bring together people from many different backgrounds.

 At a recent potluck hosted by Cariboo-Chilcotin Partners for Literacy (CCPL), attendees were invited to share ways to say “Enjoy your food!” or “The food is ready!” in their home languages. The richness of languages and cultural knowledge in the room was impressive and genuinely celebrated. Here’s what I learned about different ways to say “Enjoy your food!” or “The food is ready!”: 
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• Qwentsina tmicw (Shuswap)
• Bed xendejagh (Chilcotin)
• Kain tayo (Tagalog)
• Vinoden kanna (Sri Lankan)
• Khush ishtihaa (Urdu)
• Bhalo kore khan (Bangla)
• Chī hǎo hē hǎo (Mandarin)
• Jal meokgetseumnida (Korean)
• Itadakimasu (Japanese)
• Buen provecho (Spanish)
• Bon appétit (French Québecois)
• Guten appetit (German)

So the next time you are hosting a potluck, whether in your home or at work or a community event, consider taking a few minutes to invite those in attendance to share a word or two in their different cultural languages (for example: Happy Eating, bread, plate, napkin). You may find that doing so deepens the connections further between people as they enjoy a meal together. It may also create new and happily unanticipated opportunities for learning.

Angelika Sellick, Learning Facilitator
Cariboo-Chilcotin Partners for Literacy