Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook

From the Foreword:

Extending the Table is an invitation...to enjoy the gifts of people from Argentina and Bangladesh to Yugoslavia and Zambia. The stories and recipes help us enter into the lives and situations of these people and to be changed by them in significant ways. Food is a medium of communication, but it is more; in a mysterious way, it is part of the message, as Jesus so vividly portrayed in the breaking of bread and distribution of the cup.

Extending the Table follows in the tradition of Doris Janzen Longacre's More-with-Less Cookbook, especially her Living More with Less, which I, as her husband, competed after her death. Both books challenged us to learn from the world community, to celebrate with joy, and to care for the earth. Extending the Table presents recipes and stories of people around the world. Many of them live with few material resources, yet they share gifts which point us toward a different and freer way of life.

Extending the Table is much more than a cookbook. It will most often be found on the kitchen shelf, but it could just as well fit comfortably on the bedside stand or coffee table for inspirational reading. Let it also find its way onto the pastor's shelf for its excellent sermon illustrations and stories.

For all of us, it provides repeated opportunities to take part in the lives of people around the world and to delight in the wealth they have to offer. As we are able to treat other peoples and traditions with respect and tenderness, we too are changed.

—Paul Longacre, December 1990

Extending the Table calls itself "a world community cookbook," but it is far more than that. Yes, there are recipes here from all over the globe: Sesame Spinach Salad from Korea, Hunter's Stew from Poland, and Watermelon Jan from Botswana. There are myriad rice dishes, lots of recipes featuring beans and lentils, and an array of delicious beverages--from Philippine Punch to a Ginger Cooler from the Ivory Coast. But what makes this cookbook so special is its social conscience: following the lead of Doris Janzen Longacre, author of the More-with-Less Cookbook, Extending the Table invites readers to reduce their own levels of consumption and share resources with others around the world. Even more, it encourages us to learn from the global community. In addition to the recipes, there are stories about both individuals and whole cultures, explanations of the importance of certain types of food in different lands, and the rituals that surround particular meals. Extending the Table is the work of the Mennonite Central Committee, and many of the contributors are missionaries whose faith in the values of humility, community, and respect for others imbues the pages of this thought-provoking book. Extending the Table is truly food for the body and soul!