“They had so little but it went so far….”

Colin Moody is a freelance TV and radio presenter and currently presents on The Source on Bristol’s local television channel Made in Bristol TV.

Here he tells us about his first encounter with the sharing spirit of Ecuador over plantain and pork.

Colin says, “I love your project. It got me thinking about the first time I can remember food and stories bringing me closer to new people, new cultures.

When at college I went to America to work during the summer on an exchange programme. All the other English guys wanted to drink Bud and eat burgers every night but I was aware that the workers from Ecuador were off out as well. I tagged along and because they were paid less and lived in much poorer accommodation that us they were strapped for cash. But I was offered a ride in a beat up car to the next town where someone’s cousins family held open house and shared their food and their stories with me. I remember the pork and plantain and I remember it meaning a lot to us all. I was glad to tell them about my family and share more time with them. I kind of lost contact with the Brits abroad but I’ve always remembered that first experience of the hospitality of near strangers in another place. They had so little but it went so far…

Bristol is the only place I have found where this kind of thing seems to be happening all over and the way we shared stories at the 91ways launch really took me back”.