Next Wednesday, Houston’s DiverseWorks will team up with students from the UH Honors College Center for Creative Work in order to present “The Great Banquet,” an evening of local food and story. Each entrée will reveal a part of East Texas and the Gulf Coast; the cooks and servers will tell stories of returning home (to Bogota, Columbia; Enosberg, Maine; Iloilo, Philippines; Wichita, Texas; and Houston, Texas).
The event is free, but reservations are required ([email protected]). The first 20 RSVPs will be seated at the table; appetizers will be provided for walk-ins and those on the wait-list. Guests are also invited to bring a favorite dish and a story of home to share. To whet your appetite, and to reassure you that they get college credit for this, the event’s Facebook page quotes Homer:
There’s nothing better than when deep joy holds sway throughout the realm and banqueters up and down the palace sit in ranks enthralled to hear the bard, and before them all, the tables heaped with bread and meats, and drawing wine from a mixing-bowl the steward makes the rounds and keeps the winecups flowing. This, to my mind, is the best that life can offer.
—Homer, The Odyssey
