Reflection: (Not) feeding the bereaved in the time of coronavirus

Abstract

In this article, I examine the complications to funerary rituals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, I consider the breakdowns of normal systems of community food provisions to bereaved families, while reflecting on both the creativity of populations to create new ritual activities and the lingering effects of being unable to complete expected rituals. Beginning with the death of my father in the early days of the pandemic, I go on to trace the ways in which food provisioning to the bereaved changed alongside developments in understandings of the virus. These changes are contrasted with my previous experiences of food as abundant in funerary situations, in order to draw out the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic caused a major disruption in how care for bereaved persons is expressed.