I think traditions showcase a culture's creativity by showing the values and tastes that persist throughout time. I went to my first Sunday Roast, and even though the idea of meat, gravy, and potatoes on a Sunday is something that is extremely familiar to me in theory, experiencing this in a new cultural context felt extremely new. The particular feeling of being in London on a rainy Sunday evening, right at the end of a long week, gearing up for the week ahead, with the girls who have proven to be my chosen international family, felt like a repurposing of tradition. The specific flavors of a Sunday Roast, a British gravy that tasted different than my Thanksgiving traditions, the novelty of a Yorkshire pudding, felt wholly new. Stepping into the familiarity that lays within a new place feels incredibly creative, adopting traditions into your weekly routine, feels novel and there is no better way to experience a culture than indulging in the ever so ordinary.
The Production:
Each week, on Sunday, a restaurant has a set menu of a different culture's "Sunday Roast" with stories told by an ensemble of actors of family coming together to commemorate the week. One week could be traditional British roasts, with actors telling ghost stories in pubs, stories of familial tensions and hopes, passing along traditions from generation to generation. Another week could be a Sunday gravy, with stories of Italian immigrants in New York and how the recipes have been passed along. Exploring the ways different cultures ritualize the week, make an event out of a Sunday dinner, could allow audiences to see the ways we are all.connected, tasting comforting recipes along the way.
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