Cultures connect through food at Stratford church service

A church service in Stratford, P.E.I., brought together Christmas traditions from across the globe on Sunday.

Cornerstone Baptist Church's Christmas Around the World offered a multilingual service as well as treats from different countries.

Vianny Katherine Orcasitas brought rice pudding and natilla, which she ate when she lived in Colombia.

"These two are like, you know, those dishes that Grandma makes at home," she said. "For special festivities, special holidays, you always have those at the table."

The food sampling featured other treats such as Brazilian brigadeiro and Jamaican fruit cake.

This came after a church service with songs and readings translated into different languages.

For Orcasitas, who has been a member of the church for almost three years, it was special not just to hear the service in Spanish, but in other languages as well.

"It was amazing, I love it," she said. "It's the first time that we have it like that."

Orcasitas says it can be challenging to move to a country where you have no family or anyone you know and events like this can give people the opportunity to tell their stories and find ways to connect.

It was a sentiment shared by Cody Bolton, a pastor at the church, who says there are around 20 nationalities represented in the congregation.

"It gives kind of a good talking point for people to kind of connect and start to break down things that might be barriers at first, but really start to open people up to commonalities we have," Bolton said.

"Food is always an easy way to do that."