The excruciating experience of losing a loved one to Covid-19 has been made much worse by our inability to come together to prepare and share food.
The author supports The Lunchbox Fund, transforming South African education a school meal at a time.
Is there anything more awful than a Zoom funeral? Well, yes actually, dying from Covid-19 caught at an unauthorised, overcrowded gathering is far worse. Which is why the aforementioned virtual sendoffs are an essential part of our current protection against pandemic.
Over the past year, South Africans have had to reconfigure and reduce the number of mourners physically present at our sacred and secular remembrance rituals. Understanding and accepting the need for video conference burial and memorial services doesn’t diminish the desire to truly come together in grief. No matter how many crying emojis, #RIPS are sent, our support systems have been profoundly impaired by social distancing requirements. Try as we might, it is difficult to show up for someone emotionally without being present in person.
Most of all I miss funeral food. Not because I am greedy (although I am) but because cooking and sharing food so clearly communicates communal caring and carrying on. Food is the…