What is Food and Ceremony?

When I talk about “food and ceremony” people often ask, well, what do you even mean by that? The word ceremony can put people off, like I’m gonna get all religious on them. For me, there’s nothing religious about food and ceremony; it’s actually all about bringing real presence to what we are doing, a sacredness if you like. It’s about taking it back to the days before mobile phones, when we connected over mealtimes, telling stories around the dinner table. This has been done all over the world for thousands of years, yet, somehow, we have forgotten this innate way to tell stories and bring presence to our meals.