I don’t have many pictures to share today. Yesterday, I was leafing through the visitor’s guide to Bordeaux and found out that there is a Wine Museum here called Le Cite du Vin. I have a wine tour scheduled for tomorrow and thought that it might be really helpful and interesting to go to the Wine Museum. It is situated in a new modern looking building along the Garonne, one of the major rivers that flow through Bordeaux.
I had a list of some other things I wanted to see today, as well. Forget that; I ended up spending the entire day at this museum. It is absolutely fascinating. VERY interactive in amazing ways. It’s now probably one of my favorite museums that I’ve ever been to. It covers everything about the development of wine. How it started and the history of wine through the ages, it explains what makes wine taste so different from one region/vineyard to another, the processes, the grapes used, the soil, the amount of sun, the length of harvest, the amount of water, the surrounding vegetation, the weather and temperature, etc…. It helped explain the various flavor profiles and how they come about in the wine. All of it was extremely fascinating. I was asked to complete a survey when I was done and I only had two criticisms. The first was that you were able to have a taste of one of 10 optional wines at the start of the tour without a whole lot of explanation. I suggested that this happen some other time during the visit as I just picked a wine at random to try. After having gone through the exhibit, I’m sure I would have tried something different because I had more knowledge and could appreciate it more. Second, it is almost too much information. Although they did an fantastic job with every exhibit being different and engaging, it was still a lot to process. There were a number of the exhibits that I didn’t even go to, because it was just too much.
I’m very excited to go on the tour tomorrow having more knowledge about wine than I did before. Joy was our family’s wine aficionado. She would have adored this museum and gone crazy in the gift shop, buying every wine gadget she didn’t already have, I’m sure. One of the most interesting exhibits was the room called, “Dinner is served! At the table.” There were three tables set up for a dinner. At each table there were a number of chairs, guest could sit on all but two of the chairs which had projections on them of two additional guests who spent the time in dialogue with one another about some aspect of wine at the table. While the table itself was also a projection that changed throughout the dialogue. The first table was an interview with a Sommelier and the knowledge they need to best serve guests. The second table was an interview with a chef, about the paring of food with wines, how people throughout history have celebrated at the table with good food and wine. I wanted a print-out of this dialogue so badly. It was PERFECT for what I’m studying. And the third table was an interview with a staff member responsible for all the various types of glasses used for consuming wine and why they were of different shapes and sizes.
I’m going to come full-circle back to the museum in a minute. But first I think this would be an excellent time to share the mango story that I talked about a week ago.
During my High Tea class, I sat with a couple and their adult daughter. He shared the story about being a physician and going on a medical missionary trip to the Philippines. He and the rest of the staff worked every day with all the various medical needs of this community. And each day in return the villagers brought the staff mangoes from their trees. As the weeks wore on and the medical team was still there, one day there were no mangoes. A staff member joked with the villager, “Oh no, did we eat all your mangoes?” The villager answered back, “Yes, but we’ve sent some of our fastest men to some of the neighboring towns to see if they have any mangoes for us.” The villager seemed very embarrassed. The following day, new fresh mangoes were given to the medical team. But they were all reluctant to eat them, knowing that if they did, the villagers would just feel obligated to search further for more. The villagers insisted. And every day after that fresh mangoes were available. No one asked where they came from. At the end of the visit, the host told them that by the last day, some of the men were traveling hours away in search of mangoes, but they were happy to do it for the gift of medical care the team had brought to them. In the doctors honor, the town planted a whole new grove of mango trees in their village.
This story made me realize that there was a category missing in my proposed project: Food in Gratitude. I also realized that this category filled a section that was missing. Here are my categories for Breaking Bread with our Ancestors; our connection to food, faith, and family;
Food in Abundance. The opposite of which is Food in Scarcity.
Food in Feasting. The opposite of which is Food in Conflict.
Food in Generosity. The opposite of which (now) is Food in Gratitude.
All of these have Biblical foundations and stories in the scriptures that go with them. Ok, back to the museum. As a recap, there was a short movie that began with Jesus at the Table with his disciples repeating the words of Communion, “Take this bread…Take this cup…” Even though, this was part of my inspiration for this trip and for my study…the Breaking Bread at the table, it was in this moment that I also realized that all six of my categories are present at the Lord’s Table. I’m pretty sure that this project will turn into a book, at this point. And I’m getting more and more excited about that possibility.
Briefly, I’ll mention what I’m thinking here, when it comes to the Lord’s Table. Food in Generosity; it is at the Table that we are reminded of God’s generous gift to us in the form and Christ. We are reminded that God has bestowed upon us so many blessings. Food in Gratitude; and it is here that we are also reminded that we need to give thanks in gratitude for those gifts, for all God has done for us. Food in Abundance; God in Christ gives to us out of the sheer abundance of the creation. It is all at our disposal. And at the Table he was demonstrating to his disciples that he was willing to give everything for them. Food in Scarcity; however, we often think that there’s never enough and we like to hoard the resources we have, afraid that it will all go away. I’m reminded of the teeny tiny piece of bread that we are given and the wee little cup at our communion rituals in church. It is so emblematic of how we often view God’s resources for us - only share a tiny piece of bread (for we might run out), only offer what is absolutely necessary to barely quench our thirst (for we might run out). Food in feasting; at the Last Supper, it was a whole dinner that was served. They were there to celebrate the Passover FEAST! Food in conflict; even Jesus couldn’t resist telling his disciples that night that some of them would betray him - Judas had already made a deal with the Pharisees and Peter was moments away from denying even knowing Christ.
There are so many lessons about all six of these categories in our scriptures, but it is ALL together present at the Lord’s Table. And we are given these lessons with the foods that we eat in the company of those at the table with us, sharing our faith from one generation to the next.
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