Food doesn’t just nourish the body. It’s also a powerful tool for peace and diplomacy.

Last week’s Conflict Cuisine event held at Mary Graydon Center on March 5 engaged both the brain and the stomach in a discussion of social gastronomy—the idea that food can be used to advance social change.

“When we come together over food, it gives us a chance to reflect, but more importantly, to connect,” School of International Service dean Shannon Hader said during her introductory remarks. “Any time we connect, whether it’s a difficult or an easy time, it’s a celebration of our humanity.” 

Sponsored by SIS and AU Kitchen, the event marked the 10th anniversary of Johanna Mendelson Forman’s Conflict Cuisine class, which examines international relations through food.

Mendelson Forman and her class brought DC restaurateurs and culinary experts to the table to discuss how the local food scene in the nation’s capital melds flavor and culture.

“Restaurants, chefs, and cooks bring this city a new terroir,” said Mendelson. “It’s a term in French that relates to the uniqueness and flavor of a particular region. I believe diaspora communities in Washington are our terroir.”

The main course of the afternoon was a panel discussion moderated by The Washington Post food reporter Tim Carman. Panelists included Fernando Gonzalez and Debby Portillo of 2Fifty Texas BBQ on K Street; Irena Stein of Alma Cocina Latina in Baltimore; Sileshi Alifom, president of Das Ethiopian in Georgetown; and Téa Ivanovic, cofounder of Immigrant Food on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Though panelists came from different backgrounds, each shared how the dining table is a gathering place that creates community. In a restaurant, Alifom said, “people have different ideas [and] different political views, but while they’re eating, they’re all eating from the same plate.”

Alifom came to the United States from Ethiopia for college in 1970 and eventually settled in DC, which has the largest Ethiopian American community in the country. Ethiopian restaurants here started as a gathering place for Ethiopian immigrants; the food itself was secondary. But the cuisine has since become fully integrated into the local food scene, Alifom said.

“Second generation Ethiopians are opening up restaurants that are upscale,” he said. “They want to make sure they’re competing. The next thing you’re going to see is Ethiopian spices added to your local favorite restaurant.”

2Fifty Texas BBQ blends American and Salvadoran flavors, serving everything from traditional brisket and mac and cheese to red beans, tangerine salad, and caramelized pineapples. That fusion creates opportunities for the Gonzalez and Portillo to meet people where they are and come together through “the universality of barbecue.”

“It was a very natural process in thinking. We didn’t force it and say, ‘We’re immigrants, you’re going to have to eat what we eat,’” Portillo said. “It was because that’s what we know how to cook. It’s really sweet that our menu reflects who we are, reflects our story.” 

Ivanovich said Immigrant Food’s menu combines flavors from around the globe to create “something new and different.” The success of the restaurant then feeds resources and funds back into supporting immigrants through education efforts and other services.

“It’s really about using food as a vehicle to connect to people . . .[and] also advocate and educate on behalf of immigrants, [who] are the lifeline of our country—especially in the food industry, where they make up a large percentage of people making the food that we eat,” she said.

“We’re not a political restaurant,” Ivanovich continued. “That was very important to us, because we’re not espousing a certain political candidate or a party. We espouse the values of what America is. America’s story is a story of immigrants. It’s who we are. And without immigrants, there would be no America.”

After the food for thought, attendees enjoyed Vietnamese, Ethiopian, Afghan, Columbian, Venezuelan, and Salvadoran cuisine prepared by executive chef Robert Marquez and the AU Kitchen staff.