Food for Thought

Last night at the Tommy More dining hall was the Global Dinner. Now I hadn't seen this event on the event calendar they gave us until just a few days ago. I certainly hadn't heard anything about it either, which is unusual because they keep us pretty well informed about upcoming college events. So when I noticed it again on the calendar earlier that day, I assumed that it must be some kind of dinner featuring foods from all over the world, and I began pondering what delicious new dish I would be sampling later that evening. About an hour before dinner, the student club president sent out a message asking everyone to be at dinner right when it started at 6:00, so that everything could be set up. I thought that was a little unusual, but I didn't deviate from my original theory about what the dinner would be like. When I approached the dining hall at 5:59 (I wanted to make sure and get there early), I noticed a few people handing out little slips of paper to everyone as they were filing into the dining hall. As I neared the dining hall doors, I could see that each table inside had a country's name on it, but I still couldn't figure out what was going on. Bobby, a fellow ND student and one of the paper passer outers, approached me with a few strips of paper left in his hand and simply asked whether I wanted to be rich or poor. I hadn't quite realized what he meant by that yet, but while he was talking I managed sneak a glimpse at one of the papers he was holding and saw my beloved country's name. "I want to be from the United States," I said more than once to make sure I got my point across, completely ignoring his rich or poor question. "Alright here you go," he said. I looked down at the strip of paper he had handed me. Philippines!?! What??? Then, in response to my obvious discontent, he said something which sounded like a moral lesson, but I had been too focused on getting stuck with the Philippines to pay him any attention. As I entered the dining hall, I looked around for the table labeled Philippines but didn't see one at first glance. That is when I began to notice something strange about the set-up of the tables and realized this dinner wasn't at all what I had thought it would be.

There were three tables on the left side of the room with full setting: placemats, plates, silverware, fancy folded napkins, wine glasses, a bottle of lemonade, a bottle of coke, and a bottle of wine. Moving on from those there were six more tables each completely bare except for a pitcher of water and a few cups. Each table was labeled with a country. The first three plentiful tables were the United States, Japan, and Australia. The other six were the likes of Brazil, China, and Argentina. I still hadn't spotted the Philippines table yet. That's when I noticed that the middle of the dining hall had been cleared out and all the tables pushed against the wall. Here on the floor with no sign of food or dinner was the Philippines, along with about eight other third world countries. Finally realizing what this Global Dinner was all about, I took my seat on the floor, stared longingly at the United States as they seemed prepared for a feast, and I prepared for the worst.

The dining hall had been broken down into proportions of wealth to represent the division of wealth in the world. Josh Boyle, the president, then stood up and read some information about each of the three groups. I remember sitting there thinking how unfair it was that I got stuck on the floor while some people just happened to end up at the rich tables. That, of course, was the entire point of the exercise. It made you realize how you are simply born into a place in the world. For the rich countries, there was no question of whether their children would graduate high school but rather how many additional years of schooling they would do. The major issue being obesity. For the country I was in, school was nothing but a dream to most children, as all efforts were spent trying to make enough money to survive. The major issue being starvation. Sometime during Josh Boyle's presentation dinner was served... to the wealthy tables. They were served some kind of steak wrapped in bacon with noodles and steamed vegetables on the side. I began to fear whether I would be getting any dinner at all. Then the game got more interesting. The strip of paper I was given had a gold star on it. I thought maybe it meant that I was king of the Philippines, but the guy sitting next to me questioned the existence of such a king. As it turns out, the gold star meant that some missionary workers had come to my village and educated me. I was allowed to get up from the Philippines and move up to the next tier of countries. I happily plopped down next to my friend Tim in Brazil, moving up in life! Unfortunately for Tim, some of the rich countries stopped buying Tim's coffee beans, and he had to move down to the floor. Eventually, my new country was served a bowl of rice and vegetables. The countries on the floor received their meal last, a couple tablespoons of rice. When everyone had eaten his specific meal, they announced that there was more food for those who were still hungry, which meant pretty much everyone but the three rich tables. The pasta everyone else was served was very good, and I remember sharing that observation with one of my fellow Brazilians. He speculated that maybe it just seemed that way because just a few moments ago we thought we weren't getting any food at all, an interesting observation.

Near the end of the meal, the United States, Japan, and Australia were each treated with dessert, a large slice of thick, creamy chocolate cake. No one else was given dessert. Everyone at my table watched longingly as the United States enjoyed their fine dessert. Eventually, we noticed that one girl in particular had left more than half of her cake untouched. We began to whisper amongst ourselves about the possibility of her leftovers. Finally, I mustered up the courage to ask the girl if she was going to finish her cake or if she would give the rest of it to our table. She obliged. We quickly divided the cake and devoured it.

The event wasn't at all what I expected, but it was very well done and very thought provoking. For the very briefest of time I got to experience what it is like to be on the outside looking in. It put a lot of things in perspective. In the end the image of myself asking for the leftover cake left me wondering one thing. What would happen if the starving people of the world weren't in some far off country but instead they were sitting at the table right next to ours?