Let’s Talk About Love and International Feast

“ You don’t have to wait until Valentines Day to give flowers to your girlfriend who you really love…”

Romance, marriage, money, taxes, who pays? matriarchal societies, patriarchal societies, a marriage proposal after ten days, what’s your definition of love?

The termly international feast took place on Wednesday with world class cookery available to share. There was a delicious and appetising array of different tastes and flavours from around the world: Polish “Bigos,” Indonesian Chinese omelette, delicious home made French quiche Lorraine, Pakistani curried potatoes served with Naan bread and yoghurt, English toad in the hole and Japanese sushi. From chocolate mousse to crepes and bread and butter pudding, all pointed to the universal language of good food, washed down with an interesting diet of discussion and conversation.

Ruth Johnson, a local author led an informal and interesting discussion on the meaning of romantic love. The discussion touched on a variety of different themes and topics from marriage to romance with a valuable contribution from students from varied cultural backgrounds. Many held different opinions about who is expected to pay in a relationship? A student from a very patriarchal Indian society in Mauritius felt that it was important for a woman to be able to pay to demonstrate her independence, whilst in Indonesia in certain matriarchal societies there is an expectation that women will pay. For the Chinese students represented however, there was a more traditional expectation that the man alone should pay.
We discussed marriage and arranged marriages, and even the tax benefits of being married.
In Taiwan there are churches which teach couples to hug and to express their feelings towards each other and there was an assertion that English people are reserved in their affections. Another student pointed out the fact sometimes British people use the word “love” too lightly to describe our feelings towards cars and other objects as well as towards people. Ruth shared her own personal experiences of love and how this related to her Christian beliefs, however there was a very open spirit of listening and sharing with a great deal of respect when opinions differed. The debate continues…

Would you like to win a cream tea? … Tell us in approximately 50 words or less your own definition of love and you could win a free cream tea at BISC…. (closing date 22nd Feb 2008)