We’re sitting around a small table made of wood planks in a dimly lit home. The African sun slowly makes its passage across the Atlantic, much like we will do in a few days’ time. We’ve been invited by our friend to eat a meal cooked by him and his family before we part. The Swahili spices and warm smells of chapatti, a delicious pancake-like flat bread, drift into the room.
Why are we here? What are they doing? What should I do?
These questions surely came about thousands of years ago, amid long voyages to trade goods and conquer distant lands, but times have changed dramatically. According to a recent book on world travel, we are only 20 generations removed from when the world began to understand the true massive nature of our planet and the myriad of different cultures living within it – a world that now encompasses over seven billion people.
These days it is fairly simple, for those with enough resources or a job that lets them, to enjoy a traditional Swahili meal in the central Kenyan highlands with a gracious friend and host one day and find yourself sipping on a fresh bowl of tasty Vietnamese pho in the serene streets of Hanoi the next.
The road begins here
The ability to travel long-distances in short periods of time has unleashed the adventurous desire to see and feel what our ancestors could only dream of on the other side of the world. The quest to try new foods, meet new people and explore different ways of living is within the reach of many.
With these new experiences, however, come challenges. Challenges in understanding each other. Challenges in understanding ourselves. Challenges in understanding why we are here – or there.
Of course, for anyone who has done a bit of traveling, particularly in developing countries, the access to travel has opened the door to a landslide of ignorance from well-off Westerners looking to catch a peak into the “native’s” way of life or escape into a secluded enclave for the elite.
Tourists can now take part in organized trips through some of the world’s most poverty-stricken areas in what has been dubbed “slum tourism”. Fenced-in luxury resorts attract vacationers to their pristine sandy beaches while locals are locked out and confronted by their daily struggles to survive.
In short, traveling is a messy business. It is one that unites, divides, subjugates, inspires, bonds, and excludes. And if you are traveling, you are interacting with other cultures – whether it’s the bartender at your resort or a local friend you have come to know.
This page is an attempt to capture a glimpse into the complexity of cultural interactions in our travels. Eat with your right stands for the cultural tradition of only eating with your right hand in many parts of the world.
Hopefully we all learn something. There are too many travelers out there who don’t.
Eat with your right 