How Food Connects Us to Our Past and Builds Community at Oxford University

A memorable end-of-term guest dinner in the historic Christ Church dining hall.

In this piece, I reflect on how food connects us to our past, carries memory across generations, and helps build community in the present. My own thinking was shaped by a recent summer school at the University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education, where I studied Food and Feasting through the Ages and had the opportunity to share ideas around sustainable Bangladeshi cuisine. Although the course took a Western-centred view, it also opened space for exchange, dialogue, and a deeper understanding of how food traditions preserve identity, memory, and belonging. From family tables to shared feasts, food is never just about sustenance; it is a living language that brings people together, strengthens social bonds, and keeps our histories alive.