Jackson Free Press

If you want to change the world, you've got to feed people. Seriously, sharing food and drink is a powerful way to build community. Offering hospitality is welcoming to people—even those who might not agree with you totally.

In his remarkable book "Community: The Structure of Belonging" (Berrett-Koehler, 2008, $26.95), Peter Block says that "breaking bread together" is vital to any serious community gathering. "It brings the sacred into the room," he writes. "It is the symbol of hospitality. It is as direct as we can be about a life-giving act."

Block also encourages his readers to note just satiate with food, but tap into the power of delicious, healthy food to build connections. Pastries, cookies, chips and pretzels are "not food," and is "nutritionally and environmentally unconscious," he says. He encourages you to serve fresh food prepared by local merchants and grown with 50 miles of your gathering space.

"Let there be apples so that we have some way of moving beyond the illusion of paradise; grapes for the sake of pleasure; break, unleavened if you can find it, a reminder of the Sabbath. ... Food that reflects the diversity of the world we are embracing," he writes.

Heed this advice for your next staff meeting, class or community gathering and watch for the magic sharing food a brings.