Due to the Covid pandemic, our ability to organize Welcome Dinners are limited this year. But solidarity and personal exchange are especially important right now when we have to keep our distance. That’s why we keep thinking about creative ideas to bring people with different cultural backgrounds together while respecting the hygiene regulations in place. This summer, e.g., we invented the Welcome Dinner Schmaustausch.
…and this is how the Schmaustausch tandems worked
After we connected participants who live close to each other, they cooked a delicious snack of their choice and packed it in a lunch box. Baked goods (salty or sweet), salads, dips and small dishes like antipasti, skewers or patties work especially well for a Schmaustausch. Next, the participants met for a contact-less exchange of their lunch boxes at a place of their choice. Some tandems prepared their snacks at the same time, others first ate their partner’s treat, then cooked their favorite dish and filled their partner’s now empty lunch box with it. It is up to the Schmaustausch partners to decide if they keep exchanging dishes this way or if they even meet up to cook together when the regulations allow.
How can you participate?
Now, during the winter, the Schmaustausch is temporarily on hold. If the pandemic situation still requires us to limit our in-person contact until next year, we might bring back the Schmaustausch in spring and summer 2021.