Including Others – Through Food
Food is often a central piece to social gatherings of all kinds: holidays, parties, student club meetings. It’s used to draw people in and to connect through doing an enjoyable activity together.
But there are challenges with food that are often invisible. People who have an eating disorder or who are in recovery from eating disorders will have a complex and nuanced relationship with food making gatherings with a food element very difficult for them. People with allergies often have to be extremely careful about gatherings involving foods and many neurodivergent people have food-texture sensitivities that limit what they can eat. Additionally, there are religious and moral specifications around food too.
Many people with food limitations have learned over time to take on the responsibility for their food at gatherings. As someone who has some of these limitations, I know it’s complicated and people without these limitations don’t always know what to do. But what I can say is that when someone does put in the effort to include me or to take on that responsibility for including me, my sense of belonging and my trust in that person skyrockets. So think to yourself, if you want friends, family, classmates, or whomever to trust you and think highly of you – can you do some simple internet searches to learn more about food necessities.
Below is a link to the start of a PDF I’ve made for inclusivity around food. My hope is this is a document that can be added to with more information and resources. The information about religious needs are things I Googled – I’d love to add first-person experienced resources to the document. Email me!
