The joys of communal eating

Back home in Nigeria, you know what we do? We all sit together and eat out of the same pot. It brings that sense of family where everybody’s sharing. It’s just a great feeling and it doesn’t matter who it is: your family, your cousins, anybody who’s at home with you, you’re all dipping in the food. I know it sounds different, but it honestly makes the food taste better. Even though it doesn’t bring more flavor into the food, the fact that you’re all together matters. There’s more to the eating experience; you really feel like you’re part of the tradition of eating.

I’ve never done it here, but maybe I’ll try it with my children now that we’re all at home. The pandemic has made us cook more because we can’t go out to eat. I’ve found myself going back to the good old days of cooking and actually putting together dishes and it’s made me more connected with my food. I feel like the cooking that I do at home now is much better than it’s been in a long time.

Adenike Ojo is a transportation worker in Atlanta.