WARPIGS!!!

“Did WARPIGS and/or being in that venue make you more/less homesick?”

Unfortunately, I neglected to get any pictures of my delicious meal because I inhaled it so fast. Even in the group picture, if you zoom in on the really pretty girl in the green shirt’s plate, you’ll find it completely empty. In truth, this barbecue was the first I tried since I stopped being pescatarian only a few months prior. Therefore, it was the first pulled pork sandwich I ate in over seven years! In that regard, it didn’t really remind me of home at all because I’ve never particularly associated the sweet smell of fall-off-the-bone brisket with my life back in the States. Seeing all of the sauce bottles, however, was comforting since they all hailed their names from southern states.

Everyone sitting at these three tables together talking about their hometown meals was pretty special though. My boyfriend took it upon himself to argue the superiority of Carolina gold sauce, and by the passion in his voice you would have guessed his family’s livelihood was dependent on our liking of the flavor. I could tell he needed this meal, and that it helped ease his homesickness.

In the Honors College last year, a central theme to the first year introductory courses was that food unites communities, and fuels a sense of culture and belonging. The locals in Amsterdam argued that the city was not particularly known for its food, nor was it proclaimed to be much good. That being said, the meals we ate truly shaped our understanding of the region. My professor got the biggest smile on her face when she finally was holding a fresh stroopwafel in her hands. Our group grimaced in solidarity after every painstaking bite of pickled herring and laughed each time “pickled cucumbers” were listed on a menu. In Bremen, I took a deep breath before stomaching crab that looked way more like little worms to me. My boyfriend practically drooled every time he saw the Guinness logo.

All of this is to say that while WARPIGS didn’t make me more/less homesick, it strengthened my understanding of the importance of food in different cultural contexts.