first Mibu meal

On Saturday, Dennis, Lori and I also experienced our first Mibu meal.  Kevin had already had his first the day previous.  We all went to the same house for dinner, which was quite good.  With a few changes here and there, the Mibu diet is essentially the same for each meal: taro, sweet potato, and greens.  The additions, depending on availability, may include corn and meat.  They are all placed in a bowl with liquid, so it is almost a soup. 

Regardless of the actual food, I love the process of the Mibu meal.  Everyone sits on the floor, around the fire pit, which is in the middle of the house.  On both occasions I went to a meal, the fire was not active, so it was a pleasant temp instead of hot.  It's a social time.  But here is my favorite part: if you are finished eating, but you have leftover food OR if there is something in your bowl that you don't happen to like, you don't grin and bear it politely, trying to stuff it down and you don't try to rearrange it in your bowl so that no one realizes what you have and have not eaten.  Instead, you simply GIVE it to someone else.  That's right...just take what you don't want and place it in someone else's bowl.  The meat was not my favorite, so I just pierced it with my fork, and plopped it in the bowl of the person next to me.  And, while I thought the food was good, I wasn't able to finish it, so I just passed it down.  Awesome.