Summary

The article describes a traveler's experience of making a friend from Morocco while staying in a hostel in Portugal, emphasizing the importance of sharing food and cultural exchange in building friendships.

Abstract

The article titled "Feeding Strangers" recounts the author's experience of meeting a woman from Morocco while staying in a hostel in Portugal. The two initially struggled to find common ground, but the Moroccan woman eventually shared her paella with the author, explaining that sharing food is an essential part of her culture. The author learned about her friend's religion and job, and they discussed their respective cultures and traditions around food. The article highlights the importance of cultural exchange and sharing food in building friendships, especially when traveling.

Opinions

The author believes that sharing food is an essential part of building friendships, especially when traveling.
The author values cultural exchange and learning about other people's traditions and customs.
The author suggests that inviting someone to eat and listen to their traditions around food can be a good way to start a conversation and build a connection.
The author appreciates the kindness and generosity of her Moroccan friend, who insisted on sharing her food and explaining her culture.
The author emphasizes the importance of being open-minded and respectful of other people's cultures and traditions when traveling.

Feeding Strangers

Making friends overseas

The sharing of time. Livvy Skelton-Price

In Portugal, I met a lovely woman from Morocco. She fed me and now we are friends.

When I travel I like to stay in hostels because it’s an easy way to meet people and make new friends. Sometimes it can be hard to start the conversation or get passed the fear of saying something wrong.

Recently I was in a room with four beds and one person came in; it was just the two of us at this point. She walked in and put her bags down. We introduced ourselves and asked where each of us was from.

One of us was from the southern hemisphere while the other was from the northern. I was very interested in the surfing culture of Morocco and my friend was happy to share her knowledge even though she didn’t surf.

We talked about our jobs. Like many people I have met in the northern hemisphere, she was an academic working in a well-respected, high-paying job, but she was also looking at switching to the travel industry. I discussed my jobs back home and we struggled to connect.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there was still a lot to talk about as we were interested in each other's countries and cultures but we kept hitting roadblocks.

The next conversation we tried was about religion. My friend was Muslim, like many people I know, and she was happy talking about her religion and what it meant to her. She then tried to connect with me with prayers and asked if I pray or meditate. I have dabbled with meditation but I don’t pray or follow a religion.

Then, my friend — obviously more experienced in travel friendships than I am — brought out some Paella.

“Do you want some of my paella?” She asked.

“Oh, no, it’s ok, it’s yours.” I declined, trying to be polite even though I was starving.

“Please. Have some.” She brought out cutlery. She also explained this was part of her culture, the sharing of food, and it was an important part of friendship.

I then walked over and sat on her bed with the paella dish in between us. She had a fork and I used the non-sharp end of the knife. She kindly kept insisting that I eat more, and more, and more.

Part of my culture, to show politeness and respect, is to not take something that’s not yours. Part of my friend's culture was to share and she was able to recognize my resistance was cultural.

Her instance that I keep taking more was very kind. Through these actions, we discussed the different traditions our cultures have around food — the importance we place on it, the sharing of it, the types of dishes we have back home, and of course laughter at my use of the back of a knife. We talked about the words we use around food.

The words used around food, I have found so interesting. In New Zealand, we often say:

“Dig in,” to start a meal.

In other cultures they have words meaning “enjoy the food”, “have a good appetite”, and “eat well”.

The love and attention put into food and how strongly connected people in that culture feel are closely related (in my opinion).

Next time I don’t know what to say to a new potential friend, I’ll invite them to eat and listen to their traditions around food.

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