A dear friend introduced me to this poem...

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

– Derek Walcott

This is a fascinating article, giving power to community from our seemingly ordinary relationship to food. Incidentally, The Peace Cafe was created based on the same mindset; by breaking bread together we break barriers to promote peace.

"Although the commodification of food is a global problem, its solution is local and personal. We can eat thoughtfully and moderately, with occasional and appropriate fasting and feasting. We can select our food to be consonant with our values, prepare it ourselves with pleasure and attention, and present it with an eye to beauty, natural religion and sensual delight. Then we might know the power of food to magically create intimacy, conviviality and community...."

Thomas Moore is a former Catholic monk. He is the author of many books, including Care of the Soul and Dark Nights of the Soul.

Read more at http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article2652.html