Bread and Wine - Shauna Niequist

Any book that begins with the invitation to ‘read the book in the bath, and then take it to the kitchen to spill wine and oil on it as you cook’ is a book that ingratiates itself to me before I open the cover.  The principle of the book is hear about how an open kitchen and welcoming house can build, shape and create community.  It is a book to be used and returned to time and time again; as life shifts and lives meet together.

 

It is a book that explores themes of hospitality, hope, disappointment, miscarriage, faith, sacrament and food.  Part memoir, part recipe book, it is a strange book to categorise.  Each chapter has a journalistic style – short and sharp.  It is reminiscent of Giles Coren’s book ‘How to eat well’ but with less swearing and a little more humility.  Rather like a meal, Niequist enables people to savour each chapter; each insight into her experience – or to hurriedly move on to the next mouthful before the requirements of life interrupt once again.

 

Individual meals make Niequist’s reflections about life.  Food becomes her anchor to explore events and emotions in stark vulnerability and clarity.  She shares about the friends bought a casserole as she came home from a hospital appointment feeling empty and hollow.  The leaving banquet as she moved to a different city.  The baby shower where friends all bought their favourite dish to share.  And those serendipitous moments where good friends show up, uninvited, and make themselves at home by washing up, setting the table, and boiling the kettle.  

 

Niequist is an advocate of the principle that hospitality begins with being comfortable with chaos.  It is the invitation to join in with life that may not be fully hovered, dusted, or clean.  But amidst the physical chaos comes the invitation to share the stories of life.  The laughter and pain that happens in the security and safety of friendship and family.

 

As she goes, Niequist provides (gluten free) recipes along with the sections in the book, which culminate in a final section of menu plans for book clubs.  So there’s her final invitation.  Pull up a chair (or box or blanket); bring a dish – the recipes are included – and share our insights about ‘Bread and Wine.’  As you do, listen carefully – for therein you may indeed catch a glimpse of grace.

 

 

Questions for your book club:

 

‘I can’t imagine life without a table between us.’

                Who would you most like to eat with and why?

               

Niequist talks about the power of the dining table  What is the most important piece of furniture in your house?  What makes it significant?

 

Which room of your house helps you best connect to God?

 

Niequist recites numerous tales of chaotic meals shared with friends at the most humbling and crucial times in life.

                How does her willingness to embrace the chaotic side of hospitality make you feel?

                What is the one thing in your house that you would hide before letting someone in?

                Have you ever offered or received hospitality at a significant moment in your life?  What happened?

                When have you been offered bad hospitality?

 

Niequist reflects on the sacramentality of sharing food around a meal table. 

Why is sharing bread and wine significant to you?

                Is she right that every meal shared is a sacramental act?

                What makes hospitality holy?

 

What is the best meal you have ever shared?  What made it special?

 

This book is filled with recipes and invitations to share culinary experimentation.  What is your signature dish or family recipe?

 

Who are you going to invite for dinner this week?