By Ekanem Uwahemu-Harvey.
About this Research
Over the Spring of 2025, Bridges for Communities hosted a series of events called A Taste of St Pauls. It brought the community together for a meal that celebrated the cultural diversity of St Pauls. I was given the opportunity to undertake research at one of these events, held at the Malcolm X Centre, with an interest in the phenomenon of commensality.
Commensality is the act of sharing food together around a table.
I was interested in learning about people’s experiences of sharing food together around a table in culturally and ethnically diverse spaces.
Conviviality is a term used by academics to describe the capacity people have to live amongst others, especially in urban areas with high levels of cultural and social diversity. Conviviality involves everyday negotiation and empathy where interactions are often unplanned and unpredictable. This concept highlights the potential of fleeting moments of coming together across lines of difference to challenge ideas around fixed identities.
In the study I sought to understand how the event facilitated the cultivation of dynamics of trust and empathy between attendees from diverse backgrounds‒particularly at a time when the current political and social context in the UK is marked by anti-immigration sentiment, as well as considerable pushback against these ideas. I discussed how the act of sharing food together around a table might act as a tool for fostering intercultural solidarity.
Through observations and interviews, I was able to gain people’s insights on the topic of commensality and intercultural dynamics. The event took place at the Malcolm X Centre in St Pauls, with about 90-100 attendees. I conversed with guests on a wide range of topics, was able to eat delicious food from a buffet curated by five different caterers, and enjoyed watching performances spanning from thought-provoking poetry, to a lively jam session.
The Findings
Commensality as an opportunity for conversation
Due to food being a point of commonality between attendees, regardless of cultural, social, and ethnic background, the shared meal allowed for conversations, acts of exchange, and reciprocity to emerge.
Sharing the same food, experiencing the same flavours, standing in the same queue for the buffet and having something tangible to speak about, made the task of starting conversations easier for attendees.
Conventions around table manners and hospitality provided a structured and cooperative template for interaction, minimising potential moments of awkwardness when meeting someone new. Moreover, commensality allowed for participants to learn about etiquette and traditions from different cultures.
The research also found that commensality allowed for people’s walls to come down, and for personal vulnerabilities to be expressed. Participants shared that they felt this was an accepting environment, as people were willing to listen to everyone’s stories.
The role of the host is important
One of the most significant insights from the research was the importance of the role of a third party in facilitating food events that aim to bridge differences among diverse groups.
The third party being‒ the social initiative/organisation, the host, volunteers, and servers. The presence of food alone is not necessarily going to amount to people forming social bonds, but the actors and processes that go on in the background are crucial in coordinating the aims of the event and providing the elements that people can use as traction to connect with others.
The host was also pivotal in providing guidance to attendees, so that people knew when to queue for the buffet, when to converse with each other, when to get up and dance. These may seem like obvious things that people are able to do by themselves, however, participants voiced that this guidance allowed for people to relax, and not have to worry about what was expected of them.
The research also found that participants viewed being served food by volunteers as a welcomed feeling of dependence and hospitality.
Final Thoughts
My research found that commensality in culturally diverse environments fosters initial connections between people through providing opportunities for conversation, hospitable acts of sharing, and reciprocity.
The role of social initiatives is important, as they provide the conditions and resources to facilitate deeper levels of interaction. The act of sharing food together around a table allows for people to come face to face with and confront cultural differences. Food was viewed as a relatively safe framework for exploring this difference, and structured social interaction around the dining tables lessened feelings of unease.
The research concludes that a shared meal is a conductive starting point for initial connection across difference to occur, however, the role of a mediator is vital in encouraging deeper engagement with difference.
The event was a positive space of contact that focused on the celebration of difference, and getting people from all corners of life into the same room, talking.
Ekanem recently graduated from the University of Bristol with a BA in Anthropology with First Class Honours. As part of her final year dissertation research, she worked with Bridges for Communities exploring the impact of Peace Feasts. We are so grateful to Ekanem for her time and skills in bringing these insights which will help shape the project into the future.