Soup in exchange
for an encounter
Rotterdamse Vrijheidsmaaltijd
On May 5, between 11 and 5 at the foot of the Erasmus Bridge, about sixty people sat down for a cup of soup and a meeting. As part of the Rotterdamse Vrijheidsmaaltijd I organized an event where everyone was welcome for soup, coffee or tea. The only condition to join was that you sit down with people you don't know yet. The surrounding residents and the passers-by found each other at the dining table.
Questions that were embroidered or written with markers on the tablecloth encouraged encounters. “Why do or don't you meet?”, “What was your last memorable meeting?”
The ease and trust with which people sat down and shared their stories was touching. Some guests stayed at the table talking for up to two hours, moving from one meeting to the next. The guests beckoned passers-by to ask whether they would also like a cup of soup or a cup of coffee. Others took a seat at the tablecloth with the written questions, wrote in their own language or drew what meetings mean to them. With the intention that these encounters provide a ripple effect to new encounters, I dream of a world where there is more social connection and where we have all eaten together.
This was part of Rotterdamse Vrijheidsmaaltijd and the event was made possible by the funding of Opzoomermee.
