Philosophical Tacos
Reflections on hosting a philosophical tacos night: food-for-eat and food-for-thought
An Endless Sky
Feeding people is my form of relaxation. Unfortunately, my Balkan roots make me a bit of a crazy woman when it comes to hosting. I try to do a bit of everything (think: 10 meal options, 6 drink varieties, 4 deserts, and so forth… for 5 people over). While my guests are eating, I pay attention (in an almost stalker-ish way) to everyone to ensure they’re having a good time.
I really love caring about other people and I think it’s especially awesome when they know they’re cared for. This is why I host like this, in an obsessive, option-oriented and unscalable way. I want people to feel seen, special and full!
Hosting people massages shivers up my spine: it’s like the feeling of sitting under the stars, speechless, in awe, and wishing the moment — the view — could last forever. Except I am in the sauna of my own kitchen with a CN-tower-of-dishes and no breathtaking view of the universe :)
Whenever someone says, “Thank you for having me, I seriously had a great night,” it sprouts a joy akin to my first time seeing a shooting star.
Tacos 🌮
Recently, I hosted a philosophical tacos night. Phenomenal turn out: good conversation, food (I think) and people 🤙.
The ‘recipe’:
- ~7 people, all from different social circles. Most knew of each other, but not well, so it was a vibe of familiarity but with no clicks. I picked them solely on their affinity for an inquisitive chat.
- A vegan-first, vegetarian-second, gluten-free friendly menu. I knew that most of the crowd was vegetarian with some dairy-tummy upsetness. I built most of the food with this in mind and added a last-minute chicken option for whoever wanted it! It’s the details that matter. I will not list all the things I made because that will overwhelm everyone. Let’s just say that 7 people did not need 13 varieties of vegetables… but oh well.
- I also really didn’t need 5 different flavours of tortillas, but it brought me so much joy. Whole wheat, corn, flour, mini flour and tomato lime habanero. You shoulda seen my smile when I got to announce the options for the tortillas to my guests ❤.
- I asked everyone to come with a reflection on something interesting they’d read. Then, I let the conversation happen naturally. Therefore, everyone was prepared for an intellectual conversation (they primed their mindset), and they had a conversation starter if needed, but the conversation was not forced nor structured.
- There was no end time scheduled. But with the amount of food I had and additionally the desert and drink options…. it was clear that it wasn’t just going to be a 1.5h conversation. The conversation was unbound, and that allowed it to flourish.
Essentially, rigidity can be the thief of spontaneity, but spontaneity can be the thief of thoughtfulness. I tried to weave a balance.
- Most importantly, I really think I picked the right people. They all asked awesome questions that kept the spark alive. Because they weren’t air-tight friends, our convo could focus on our philosophical questions of interest rather than catching up.
- In the end, people came at seven and stayed till midnight with our conversations (I had to kick them out so I could get some sleep haha). Note to self: start earlier or plan to end later.
Creation
The major mono-culture of a place is its gravitational pull. So it’s scary to want something different. And even more so to do something different.
In a college town, there is a particular aesthetic to the 3 am thrill, costume parties and sports-centrality. It is so mainstream that it’s hard to refute.
However, I am learning that I don’t need the whole town to want to do things I find fun. I only need a couple of people to have a philosophical taco night. A funny friend to fail at cake making with. A person or two to stroll around the farmer’s market on a Saturday morning.
These things are creatable, but they take courage (courage to do things different than the norm and to take the time to organize them).
My philosophical taco night was a reminder of how much I love being a silly and expansive host and how it’s my way of having fun. I should honour that knowledge. I don’t have to pretend to do something else 🌌.
🔭 Philosophy
I’ll definitely host more of these taco nights. Maybe I’ll learn to simplify the menu. I hope the conversations, however, only get more vast.
The debut taco night (21.11.22) covered a lot of philosophical ground! There were some really stellar questions brought up. Some favourites:
- Does a community-centric culture inherently have less economic prosperity? (E.g., Serbia vs the USA). Why is the more ‘developed’ world individualistic? Are diasporas the only way to leverage individuality but keep communities (albeit overseas)?
- Canada got the first at-home pregnancy test 7 years before the USA. The Canadian healthcare system’s incentive is to reduce time/contact hours in the system. The USA’s incentive is increasing the # of things to charge you on (value/services), so at-home pregnancy tests decreased a very profitable service; hence they were met with seven years of resistance. What are other examples of this time or profit incentive system, and what does this mean for Canadians? Americans?
- Brain drain is a go-to “answer” for the root causes of issues ‘back home.’ For example, Canada’s early-stage startup scene is much less vibrant than the USA’s, but is the solution to bring more Canadians to San Francisco?
- We have started to commodify belonging. Buy this shirt and be a Swiftie. Own this phone and be perceived as trendy. If community and identity-oriented items are highly demanded, isn’t it in the corporation’s favours for people to have more identity crises? Should we do anything about this? Can we do anything?
- Let’s talk about the Columbian Exchange. It’s how Italy got its tomatoes and Ireland its potatoes… in the 1500s. Their modern foods are a recent historical phenomenon. We colour food as a central element to these cultures (for instance)… but only recently did they get the ingredients that are their “staples.” Global events (like international trade) mutate local cultures. Does this have implications for cultural preservation? Personal identity?
…
Lot’s more juicy conversations and thoughts came out of philosophical taco night #1. I’m excited for more.
Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my quarterly newsletter for more philosophical pondering.
