Welcome to the Kitchen; Come Eat at My Table: An Exploration into the Intimacy of Sharing Food and of the Kitchen as a Sacred Space

This essay explores how the relationships between the culture of the American South and the tenderness of sharing food create intimacy in the kitchen and at the table. By examining the Southern tradition of sharing food and the intimate relationship between the table and kitchen, I posit that food is binding, and the act of sharing food cultivates intimacy and comfort within the kitchen and at the table. Food is culture, and it brings people together in the most intimate of settings. We as a Southern society find our identity in our food; it is the commonality between all people, and when food is shared, culture and identity are only further perpetuated. The kitchen is the primary social intersect of the home, and the kitchen as a common place only further supports a food-as-culture claim. The table is a place of comfort and sacredness. To sit down at the table—to share food—is an intimate setting of love and sharing, where all who join in are giving of themselves in the same way that they are receiving of those around them. There is identity in Southern food, thus creating identity for all who participate in eating. The kitchen is where the food is prepared, and the table is where it is consumed; and by establishing the intimacy in sharing food, the sacredness of the kitchen and table is further substantiated