Pizzas, pozole, spinach artichoke dip and more were placed on tables at Midnight Garden for attendees at the annual Immigrant Allies Community Unity Potluck on Sunday.

Allies co-founder and co-organizer Maria Gonzalez-Alvarez said the event was also a celebration of the organization’s quinceanera, or 15th year, featuring the Marshalltown High School Mariachi Band. She noted the variety of dishes, which indicates the variety of the community of Marshalltown.

While the crowd enjoyed the variety of dishes on their plates, storyteller and Arts + Culture Alliance 2025 Community Artist Grant recipient Kiran Singh Sirah was the main speaker.

During his speech, he used food references to provoke thought and memories in the listeners. He started with an ice breaker and asked people to put their hands up and imagine themselves as a piece of seaweed moving in the ocean. Then he asked them to pause so he could tell a story.

“When I was a kid growing up in England, my mother always said ‘Go different places. Meet different people. Go to churches. Go to mosques. Go to synagogues and get to know people,” Sirah said.

Upon moving to Tennessee, he looked for a place where he could pray, but there were no Sikh temples. Instead he went to a church and learned there is a time during the service when members of the congregation offer hands of peace to one another.

“So what I want you to do is imagine you’re a seaweed offering a seaweed hand of peace,” Sirah said, as raised hands began waving at one another.

He asked people to raise their hands if they brought a dish for the potluck, if they tried something new or learned a new recipe, shared food with a neighbor or friend and if they were grateful to attend and eat delicious food. Sirah then told another story of a traveler with stories in his heart and spices in his hand because every meal is a story.

“This traveler loved to cook, and as he cooked, people gathered,” he said. “In each place, he found that when people came together to chop, to stir or to taste, something invisible began to grow inside of them. It was a warm feeling of home, a feeling of love and trust, memories of the past and family gatherings.”

One day the traveler decided to cook for a community and called on the people to bring what they had. There were sweet potatoes, okra, carrots, eggplants and it was all put into a pot. The traveler added his spices to the pot, and the air filled with the scent of home and hope.

“When the meal was ready, everyone sat together,” Sirah said. ” . . . As they ate, they began to share stories of family, of childhood memories, of dreams and hope for the future. Although the languages were many, something ancient and wonderful stirred inside them. That knowing the food that they ate was like a story, connecting their past to their present, like a bridge of hope.”

After that meal, the traveler learned when people share food, they share their hearts and themselves and a new story begins.

Sirah then asked everyone to close their eyes and remember a food from their home, something that brings them joy. He asked them to share that memory with the person next to them as they enjoyed their food.

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.