Being that it's Black History Month (or was a few minutes ago) the church decided to have a "Soul Food Fellowship" as a way to celebrate (great idea, I have to say! =) Mmm!).
Again, I was welcomed in with such kindness and enthusiasm I couldn't help but be delighted to be there! We worshipped and then my buddy and a few others put on a great skit, in which he played a French chef/food critic (he stole the show), complete with baret and a ridiculous accent (brought back fond memories of 16 year old me on a fine day in speech class). His character was a guest critic on a food show, unwittingly sampling soul food treats like salted pigtail, chitlins and hog maw (I'll let you google those =).
Fortunately, they'd determined this would be a "heart healthy" experience and left the above-mentioned delicacies off the menu (whew!).
We got a little history lesson in the origins of soul food (look it up... or don't. Whatever. =) and then headed for the dining room. Ugh, we could smell it all as soon as we stepped out of the sanctuary to go to the other building!
Banquet tables lined the walls, loaded with big bowls and steaming pots, rows of trays and piles of eating utensils... and napkins. We ate dinner standing, mingling and chitchatting, moving around and across the room to get seconds of "winners" and find that one that "you just have to taste!" It reminded me of a particularly extravagant banquet scene in Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. The pastor likened it to a Saturday afternoon in Costco. =P
I don't know that I've ever had that many different dishes in one meal! We had chicken stew and fried fish and red beans (YUM, not kidding)! Green beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas and roasted tomatoes and onions. We had collard greens, roasted beets, dirty rice, sauteed carrots and roasted peppers! And we drank a hot lemongrass and honey tea to wash it all down. It was simply amazing.
It was all overseen by "Master Chef Ruth", a warm, yet coool and collected, yet enthusiastic woman who, when my buddy introduced me, immediately took me by the arm and pulled me around to all of her favorite dishes (hers, naturally =). She'd hand me a serving of one thing and before I could take a bite would grab it back and combine it with another and another before giving me the nod to go ahead! There was okra in some kind of amazing red sauce with corn and the best roast chicken I've ever tasted. There was a deeelicious cold tomato, cucumber and onion salad marinated in rice vinegar that tasted so fresh and vibrant - kinda like a Greek salad I had with a bunch of friends in a seafood market on an island near Athens a few years ago (ahhh =). Ugh, my mouth is watering. I'll be right back.
And for dessert?! Blueberry pudding pie, peach cobbler and peanut butter and banana quesadillas! Wait, what?!! Yeah... a.k.a. the Elvis Quesadilla. Not sure if this is traditional soul food, but it was reeeally good. And no way was I gonna question Master Chef Ruth (it was one of her special dishes). I actually just looked this one up to see if I could find the answer and saw someone's recipe for it (as if peanut butter and banana in a tortilla requires instructions). In their description they said, "This is soooo goood! I love it more than my 2 year old!" See? I'm telling you...
I think I ate 15 or 16 different dishes that night, more than a few of which I'd never tasted before! What a fun, extravagant, rich Father we have! Rich in every way! In provision of food, fun, relationship, health, joy! It was a good example, I guess-- or reminder of how He wants to satisfy us. And the delight He takes in blessing us this way too! I'm just thinking, we can see something of God's personality in the way Ruth grabbed my arm! He's excited for us, wanting us to taste and see His goodness in this life!
And what's funny is I left there totally satisfied.
Knowing I wanted more.
=Drew
