CULTURES can bring the world together, but they can also clash.
Food is arguably the definitive symbol of one’s culture; the flavour, the smell, the ingredients, the appearance, the meaning, the history behind the food that helps define nations and those in them.
You don’t have to necessarily like all the food from cultures around the world, but you should acknowledge their importance, or at least try it, you might like it.
The Champions Dinner is the perfect example of this.
This year, Jon Rahm will proudly boast his Spanish palate, as he announced the menu for his edition of the dinner that his green-jacketed counterparts will have to indulge in.
Creating such a personal spread is not uncommon though, in fact, in the last 20 years there has been nine different cuisines be placed on the elongated dinner table inside Augusta’s clubhouse.
Well, one cuisine was almost not inside, or on any table at all.
After Charl Schwartzel won the 2011 Masters, he proposed himself to be head chef and cook his fellow champions a South African braii underneath the iconic oak tree between the clubhouse and the first tee at Augusta.
This would’ve one-upped his countryman, Trevor Immelman, in terms of capturing the culture, but the 2009 champion already represented his nation well by serving bobotie, sosasties and many South African wines.
Rahm rightfully is proud of his origin and hopes that those in attendance can enjoy what’s on offer.
“It should be quite special. They’re going to try a few things that they maybe haven’t seen before that are really quite tasty.”
Jon Rahm from an interview at Augusta on Tuesday 19th March.
Whatever the former champion was eating before the fourth round of his winning campaign in 2023, his opposition will certainly want a portion of it on their plate for this year.
The Spaniard came from four strokes behind of the leader on Sunday morning, to end up winning the tournament by two strokes at the end of the day.
Rahm added:
“I wanted to put a little bit of my heritage and my family into this dinner, which is going to make it even more special.”
Jon Rahm from an interview at Augusta on Tuesday 19th March.
It could be the ‘Mama Rahm’s Classic Lentil Stew’ on the menu that fuelled last year’s success, but if it was, I doubt he would want to share it.
The championship dinner is highly anticipated by the players, those with a deservedly won green jacket of course, as it helps unify the games’ greatest players by having a relaxed social interaction before they approach the first tee just days later.
But, I wonder who does the seating plan ahead of the dinner?
Because it would be quite rude for Rahm and the other LIV golfers to speak across the table if they couldn’t hear how many millions each other have made.
Or maybe stuff like that doesn’t get brought up at the dinner table.
