Hi, fam! So much has happened these last few weeks: Romaine and I moved from Brooklyn to Paris, began building our new home in Paris, and she completed her first week of culinary school. As you can imagine, life has been busy, and I'm relieved to have the time and space to think and write. This week, I want to share my thoughts on something close to my heart and what I believe to be the core of Le Dinner Party—Radical Hospitality.
I created Le Dinner Party to share and emphasize the "how" to host dinner parties so that you, my Le Dinner Party community, would be empowered to build relationships and connect with your friends and loved ones through shared meals. I launched the website a month ago, and while I'm proud of her lewk, her vibe, and her energy, I want to be clear that I had merely set the figurative table—I told you who she was. Now it's time to explore who we are.
The Art of Radical Hospitality
I hope you've experienced moments like this—content lethargy following a delicious meal, lounging about with your dearest friends, the comfort of occupying the space as your full authentic self, and feeling an abundance of love; a sense of belonging. These are the moments that I treasure and strive to create—moments of Radical Hospitality.
Let's quickly orient ourselves to Radical Hospitality by touching on traditional hospitality. I like to parse traditional hospitality into two very broad categories: when a host drives the experience (e.g., someone inviting you over for dinner), and an experience paid for by the guest (e.g., the hospitality industry—restaurants, hotels, etc.). While these categories and definitions are rudimentary and by no means fully encompass what hospitality is, I'm defining them to illustrate the movement of energy or effort. The energy or effort in both instances moves from the host to the guest. Consequently, these experiences can feel transactional or unequal.
What then is Radical Hospitality? Radical Hospitality is a way of gathering in which all participants actively contribute (food, ideas, energy, and love) to the community, to create an inclusive and equitable space. It shifts the movement of energy found in traditional forms of hospitality. Rather than the host driving the experience, the individuals participating collectively contribute to create a space that is equal; where people feel comfortable enough to show up as their most authentic selves. While the idea seems simple enough to understand, it is much more nuanced and complicated to execute (kind of like the idea of equality). The concept is radical because the dinner does not belong to one person, rather it is about the community and putting people on equal footing. Radical Hospitality empowers folks to have the freedom to exchange respect, empathy, love, and ideas in a genuine or authentic way. Radical Hospitality is NOT about glorifying the host, flexing on social media, or driving an agenda. It is simply a curated space where people can live life deeply and richly.
How do we create moments of Radical Hospitality? I believe the meal is one of the best vehicles for this exchange of energy—of building community—and a moment to develop a sense of belonging. Meals are where life happens: folks catch up on the hot gossip of the day, share their hopes and dreams, empathize with one another, build and deepen relationships, and fall in love. Food resonates so profoundly with me because of the way it connects people. Meals are a universal bonding experience, and food is the global language. The formula for Radical Hospitality differs from traditional dinners in that all participants are asked to be intentional; guests and host both contribute something physical to the meal to share, and actively participate throughout the experience. Radical Hospitality is about sharing and learning from the plurality of experiences of all the people sitting at the table.
We will continue to explore Radical Hospitality on this website, and I will share the “how” to create these moments in the How to Party section (e.g. how to be an inclusive host, be a gracious guest, throw a dope potluck and meet diverse groups of people, etc.). Additionally, in the spirit of Radical Hospitality, I've asked my community to share their definition and interpretation of Radical Hospitality with us through their words, art, recipes, and whatever else they want to bring to the table (stay tuned). Please note that my definition of Radical Hospitality will continually evolve as we explore the topic further.
You, my reader—my dinner guest, are a fundamental part of the Le Dinner Party community. I encourage you to contribute and join the party by writing your thoughts in the comments section found here and all over the website (and on IG too!). Le Dinner Party is Radical Hospitality, and I'm excited to explore and build with you!
Chic,
Jen
