A Different Type of Banquet (During the Season of "Eating)

By Elaine Van Cleave

Bread for the World Activist - Birmingham, AL

 It isn’t often that you are invited to a banquet and then are told you must sit on the floor to eat; yet half of the unsuspecting guests at an Oxfam Hunger Banquet do just that.  A simulation game that is a metaphor for the unequal distribution of and lack of access to food, Oxfam’s Hunger Banquet is an excellent tool for educating your church or campus about world hunger.

Here is how it works:
Guests draw tickets at random that assign them each to either a high-, middle-, or low-income tier and receive a corresponding meal.  The 15 percent in the high-income tier are served a sumptuous meal. The 35 percent in the middle-income section eat a simple meal of rice and beans.  The 50 percent in the low-income tier help themselves to small portions of rice and water.

To further emphasize the indiscrimination of poverty, some diners are chosen at random to move to another income group. A script is read describing the demographics of each income group and how a simple change of circumstances such as loss of a job can throw someone deeper into poverty.   

In addition to a well crafted script, the banquet also includes a video presentation of facts and figures on hunger and poverty.  “The one thing I would like you to remember is this: Everyone on earth has the same basic needs; it is only our circumstances – where we live and the culture into which we are born – that differ.  Some are born into relative prosperity and security, while millions through no choice of their own, are born into poverty…”

Recently, Oxfam Hunger Banquets were held on two Birmingham campuses. Bread for the World campus chapters at Birmingham Southern and Samford University each hosted the awareness raising banquets as part of their Hunger Week activities.

At Samford University, Dr. Suzanne Martin lead the discussion following the meal.  Several students professed feelings of guilt, selfishness, and ambivalence. One honest student who was lucky enough to land a spot in the high-income group confessed, “I decided that there was nothing I could do about the others so I might as well enjoy myself.” 

Dr. Martin challenged the students, “If the statistics presented tonight bother you – you can stay stuck feeling bad and do nothing. But, the Lord doesn’t want you to stay stuck in guilt and shame.  Jesus is with the poor and calls us to participate with God who is already in the world redeeming it.”

Dr. Martin revealed, that in 1982 as a Samford student herself, she heard a woman speak about the transforming work of Bread for the World.  “Bread offered me the opportunity to be a part of something much bigger than myself – a collaborative movement of thousands working together to change the systems and policies that keep hunger and poverty in place.” 

Dr. Martin then urged the students to take their deepened awareness and put this new knowledge to use by advocating for just public policies that can lessen the severity of hunger and poverty in God’s world.    Nelson Mandela had the last word during the final video clip, “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.  Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation.  Let your greatness blossom.”