Epic Food Fight

Description: Epic Food Fight is an eight-week series that combines the community building experience of sharing a meal with small-group discussion on salvation history. Using the book Epic Food Fight: A Bite-Sized History of Salvation as a guide, the weekly discussions bring together theology, scripture, and Church teachings on salvation history in a conversational manner.

Get Ready

• Prep Time:
  • Plan for six to eight weeks of advertising
  • Meal organization:
    • If preparing meals on your own, or with a few volunteers, you will need time to find appropriate recipes for the needs of your group (factoring in dietary restrictions of the group), time to shop for the meal, and time to prepare the food.
    • If doing a potluck style meal, you will need to create a sign-up sheet about two weeks in advance. You can utilize many of the free online options (i.e., Signup Genius) or use an old-fashioned paper form. For easier sign up, break the meal down into courses and ask for at least two people to contribute to the main dish.
    • You could also structure the meal where you provide a main dish and participants bring side dishes, desserts, and beverages. Many stores offer large, premade main dishes, so this can be an easy option. Regular grocery stores, warehouse stores, and restaurant supply stores will all have large trays of food you can purchase frozen and simply heat up.
    • Be sure to make yourself aware of any dietary restrictions of participants in advance.
  • Discussion preparation:
    • Plan enough time to read through the book once (likely just a few hours, as it is a short text).
    • You will need time to go through section-by-section to record notes and ideas for group discussion.
    • Set aside time to prepare opening and closing prayers (or to work with a volunteer on this). Another alternative is to allow for more spontaneous prayer within the group during the meetings.
  • You might also want to allow a couple of hours prior to each meeting to create handouts to pass around at each gathering to include scussion, prayer, and other resources (people may want to know the recipes you made!).
• Volunteers Needed:
  • The number of volunteers will vary based on whether you decide to do the food preparations yourself, with a small group of volunteers, or a potluck style meal.
  • If you have volunteers help with meal prep:
    •  As they say, “Too many cooks spoil the soup,” and space requirements often dictate the number of volunteers in a kitchen.
    • Two to three volunteers can easily prepare a simple meal for as many as 12 to 15 individuals in 1 to two hours. The choices of recipes and their preparation time will dictate how long volunteers are needed prior to the gathering.
  • If you do a potluck:
    • People who sign up to prepare or bring a dish will be able to judge the time they need to prepare their part of the meal for themselves.
  • Set up and clean-up of space:
    • Particularly if you have a crew cooking, you will need a couple people to help with the clean-up of the serving dishes and meal dishes. This is a wonderful way to share the responsibility and ownership of the event.
    • If you have to set up tables and chairs for a group of six to 12, this task will only take a few minutes.
    • Make sure to plan a few minutes at the end of each evening to clean the tables, chairs, and floor of any food scraps and garbage.
    • If using the parish’s facilities, including the kitchen, make sure you are aware of health code policies. Alternatively, ask someone from the staff to help you understand them in regards to the cleaning and storage issues. You may find that you have a participant in the group that is certified in the health department considerations and can help in this area as well.
    • If the group does not fit around one table, you will want to move to a circle of chairs, or other space where the group can see each other easily in a comfortable environment for discussion. This will add a few minutes of set up and clean up to your plans.

• Supplies: Copies of the book, Epic Food Fight: A Bite-Sized History of Salvation by Fr. Leo Patalinghug for each participant; Bibles; writing utensils; nametags. For dinner each night be sure to provide: cooking and serving dishes and utensils appropriate to the meal each evening; a meal appropriate for the size of the crowd; plates, flatware, glasses, etc.; cleaning supplies for any spills on the floor and tables.
• Reserve the Space: Make an appropriate choice based on the following considerations:
  • If you will be doing food preparations you will need access to a kitchen.
  • If you are doing a potluck style, you will simply need a room that has tables and chairs.
  • Access to dishes, cookware, serving utensils, and other necessary food preparation and consumption materials.
  • Ability to set up enough table space for the group to comfortably be seated.
  • A serving area for the food (can be a serving table or window if doing buffet style; or space at the dining tables for dishes if doing family style).
  • Access to cleaning supplies for spills and clean up after the event.
• Ideal Group Size: Ideally six to 12. A group too large (more than 15) will make discussion challenging and food preparation could get unwieldy.
• Who is this for? Any young adult.
• When is a good time for this? As this program involves a meal, planning it around a meal time is crucial. Weeknight dinners are a prime option. Otherwise you could consider a weekend breakfast or brunch time.
• Publicize the Program:
  • Always make sure to go the traditional route so you will catch those who are not media savvy. This also helps the rest of the parish or community know what your young adult ministry is doing:
    • Posters on church bulletin boards
    • Notice (with attractive design and artwork) in the parish bulletin
    • Announcement at Masses
  • Utilize social media
    • Create a Facebook event for each night. This will also help give you a ballpark figure of how many to expect for each meal. And make sure to create an event for each gathering!
    • Utilize Twitter if relevant to your young adults.
    • Should your young adults be on Instagram, taking photos of the group and the food served would be a great way to share the event and do on-going advertising.
  • Send notices to local parishes for their bulletins and announcements, if appropriate.
  • Send an e-mail about two weeks prior to invite people and then 24-48 hours prior with a reminder. And e-mail participants to encourage them to continue with the series or bring friends.

Prayer for Program Planner: God, the battle of good and evil plays out on the cosmic scale and the most personal scale. Please guide me through my life to battle for good and to return to you when I stray. May your hand be at work with the preparations for the discussions, the cooking of the meals, and in the hearts, souls and minds of those who participate. Amen. 

Community Building: The meal is not just an addition to the program, but an integral component of the message of the series. It is one of the most significant ways for community and relationship building. If volunteers are gathered to cook as a small group, this increases the community-building and social component (while then having an undercurrent of service to the group).