For many Lab regulars, Tuesdays are the best day of the week. Or, at least the day with the week’s best food.
In a rather unplanned manner, Tuesdays have become ‘group lunch’ day at the lab. At first, we simply brought our own lunches and ate together, sitting around the kitchen/meeting table. Then ,someone brought a pot of soup big enough to share. Next someone else brought a loaf of bread their partner had baked. Someone else made hummus. And someone baked cookies! Someone else found some sad vegetables in the back of their fridge and transformed them into a pasta salad … and it was delicious. We’ve also shared favourite childhood junkfood, local oddities, and family standards. But there is no pressure to spend big bucks at the store or long hours in the kitchen; every contribution is appreciated and every item generates a story.
Along the way, we have discovered many noteworthy things, such as: Dani makes the best cookies; one can get a surprisingly wide variety of cauliflower-based dips in Canada; making sushi is especially fun when you sneak a couple of Cheetohs and Doritos in alongside the carrots and avocados; everyone wants Rina’s recipes; and rutabega is a highly underrated vegetable.
We all know that food is about more than calorie-fuel for bodies. Food is comfort, and stepping out of your comfort zone, too. Food is nostalgia, and adventure. Food is community. Eating together is a way to learn about each other, the places that have grown us up, and the values that we have absorbed, ingested, and sometimes transformed into something new.
This term is drawing to a close, so our Tuesday lunchtimes sadly are too. But we will let you know which day we will be lunching together next term; why not stop by with your own favourite lunchables, so we can get to know you better, too?
The FEELed lab 