I love travelling and learning about different cultures all over our world. Our world is full of rich diversity. It’s the best! Each culture contributes beauty and character.
I also love food. Family meals bring us all together after a long day. In our family, we eat dinner together at the dinner table every night. It’s our chance to connect together, recount our days, and just chat.
It’s important to me to teach our children all about the beauty of the world, especially while they’re young. I want them to be exposed to a variety of people, experiences, and places. Right now, we have two toddler boys, and jet setting all over the world isn’t feasible. Going out to eat at lots of different places isn’t either. That certainly won’t stop me from sharing the richness of the world with them though. Besides lots of local opportunities to interact with different cultures, I can introduce them to different cuisines at home for dinner.
My big goal is to make a different dinner from all 197 countries (which includes a couple of disputed ones). When doing this, I want to also educate my boys on some of the cultural elements of these countries, for example, their languages, dress, flag, location, music, customs, and religion.
Most importantly, I want to use these experiences as an opportunity to pray for the people in these countries. I want my boys to grow up knowing that God loves the world, and much of the world still needs hear about Him. I also want to practice what I preach. If I say I love missions, which I do, am I actively praying for those who have yet to hear the Gospel? I pray that this challenge will truly challenge myself to pray intentionally and fervently for both those unreached by the Gospel and our brother and sisters in the faith around the globe.
Practically speaking, I will probably do one country a week. With 197 countries (with new countries forming here and there, I’m sure), that would mean around 4 years. Yikes! So, with that being said, I think that I’ll just pick countries one at a time, and not in a particular order. I was going to do alphabetical, but I think that maybe I’ll just choose from a variety of regions and see what looks good at the time. Suggestions are welcome too!
Additionally, if you’d like to share a favorite recipe from where you’re from or somewhere you’ve visited, I’d love to have it! I’m excited, and can’t wait to see how this impacts my family and others.
Oh, and some criteria I will have:
- These meals need to be (generally) healthy.
- These meals need to be frugal. Sorry, caviar!
- These meals need to be simple enough to navigate with toddler boys running around my feet.
- These meals need ingredients that are easily accessible.
My goal in sharing these experiences with you, is to be a resource for global-minded living. I want these meals to be easily recreatable for families and to not seem overwhelming. I’m also creating printables available for you to learn about these cultures as a family.
The world is big and beautiful and lovely. And it was created by the most loving Creator. May the whole world hear of His unfailing love.
Awaiting adventures,
Rachel