Did you miss it?
If you missed the event, it’s not too late to get involved! Organizers of The Longest Table are inviting people to host follow-up conversations in their homes, neighborhoods, churches and favorite neighborhood restaurants. To learn more and sign up, visit thelongesttabledayton.com.
Shared meals have played a key role in the human experience dating back as far as 200,000 years ago when archaeologists mark the emergence of homo sapiens.
Yet, as important as a shared meal has proven to be in helping inform communication, good health and overall happiness, sharing and bonding over food is quickly disappearing from our culture.
In his book “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,” Eric Schlosser writes that one in every four Americans will eat at least one meal at a fast food restaurant during any given day and journalist Michael Pollan estimates that 20 percent of all American meals overall are eaten in a car.
The Harris Poll reports that 29 percent of families don’t sit down to family dinners due to difficulty coordinating schedules.
In fact, the main ingredient that is increasingly disappearing from the dinner table is people as we increasingly are opting to grab our grub solo and on the go.
And those statistics are just limited to eating with family — the people we live with and see every day. What about breaking bread with groups of neighbors?
So when I caught wind of a community movement called The Longest Table, geared toward hosting meals and conversations to connect people who may not normally get a chance to meet, I couldn’t wait to sign up.
The event was the brainchild of Project Lead Bryan Stewart, 26, of South Park, who serves as the legislative aide to commissioners Matt Joseph and Christopher Shaw.
“A colleague and friend, Amy Walbridge, sent me a news story about a meal hosted in Tallahassee, Fla., and I was really inspired and thought we could make it happen in Dayton. I decided to pitch it as a project at the 2016 UpDayton Summit and won seed money to start the project,” Stewart said. “UpDayton funneled expertise and lots of volunteers to help orchestrate the key planning component of the project. From there, we sent leaders out into the community to talk with neighborhood organizations and places of worship. We also worked in close coordination with different departments of the City of Dayton, who helped facilitate and make sure we correctly applied to block off the (Third Street) bridge for the meal.”
It was a six-month journey from the UpDayton pitch Stewart made on April 28 until the actual event last weekend on Oct. 15.
More than 300 were in attendance representing more than 50 Dayton-area zip codes.
A warm, flavorful, robust soup provided by House of Bread was a highlight made with carrots, great northern beans, potatoes, chicken and a variety of herbs and spices. Local businesses including Dorothy Lane Market and Citilites provided sandwiches, salads and a variety of side dishes for guests to enjoy.
But the star dish served up last week at a table for hundreds, spanning the middle of the Third Street Peace Bridge leading to downtown Dayton, was the people, the conversation and the fellowship.
Those attending were from all walks of life and backgrounds with one thing in common — an interest in connecting with some of their neighbors and having a real conversation.
Questions in three parts were provided:
1) Introductions: Get to know each other
How would you describe yourself? Where do you call home? Share a decision you or your neighborhood is facing today. Why did you come to the Longest Table today?
2) Cultural Exchange: Share about your community
How would you describe your neighborhood? What is your favorite part about it? How does what people say about your neighborhood match your experience? What’s a challenge facing the Dayton community you are most interested in?
3) Envision the Future: Dayton 2025
What are your hopes for the Dayton area? What will need to happen to get there? How can you help fulfill your hopes for the Dayton area?
“There’s something natural and unifying in the concept of sitting down and sharing a meal. There’s also something about meeting around a common cause. If enough people buy into an idea, the momentum builds on itself,” Stewart said. “We were hoping to start a conversation about Dayton. We wanted to highlight the exciting things going on here and connect people that might not normally get an opportunity to naturally meet.”
Stewart says the feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We know that we had a number of very deep and meaningful conversations (take place). They ranged on everything from a death in someone’s family to parking in one of Dayton’s neighborhoods,” Stewart said. “We challenged the participants to open themselves up to honest dialogue, and I think people did their best to make the most of the opportunity.”
For Stewart the experience was “overwhelmingly powerful.”
He was not alone in that sentiment.
There is something tremendously moving in seeing 300 strangers coming together who care about their city and their fellow human beings over the ultimate unifier — food.
It was a shared meal that I most certainly will be back next year to enjoy.
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