Chef and restaurateur, Chris Hill discusses how food can bring us all together despite our varied backgrounds.

• Read more from Chris Hill here

He had cancer. Cancer sucks. We would soon learn that this would be his last night. In the hospice, he was surrounded by those that loved him. Fortunately, a certain sense of peace, joy and gratitude had taken hold in the overcrowded, sterile room, as we spoke what, we didn’t know at the time would be our final goodbyes.

In that room, where my fiance’s uncle passed away last month, I was the only one there without a strand of Filipino blood running through my veins. It even seemed as though the nurses taking such good care of him and the fragile family shared distant bloodlines with them as well. There were youngsters racing toy cars along the slick and chilled hospital floor, not completely aware of what was going on. There were those who could have been my grandparents squeezing his hand with encouragement, sharing their deep love, affection and appreciation for this man who’s time on earth was coming to a close.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve become enamoured with learning about their culture, their dishes and the things that make Filipinos proud of who they are and where they came from. With every bit I learn, I grow increasingly jealous, wishing I’d been spoiled with the various rice dishes of that beautiful island nation throughout the course of my childhood. Strangely though, it’s only through having a different experience and understanding the world in a different way, that I’m able to create this sort of context for my interaction with them and the food that they’ve enticed me to fall in love with.

His death marked the end of a life, but over the next week I got to enjoy so many wonderful Filipino meals with so many wonderful people that were close to him — that’s why we were all together — it was because of him. The dinner table for a week straight was a celebration of his life, the meals, as well as the stories that reminded them of him, and at the heart of it all, it was the important things in this world that were what brought us all together — family, love, togetherness.

How food can bring us together

I’m sure, as it relates to the big picture we all want the same things in life. If that’s the case, why can’t we just stop for a few minutes to really think about those that are different from us and how those differences don’t make us enemies. They don’t make us right, wrong, better or worse. These differences can actually bring us together — that I learned over the last month, celebrating the life of a man and a culture of which I knew little about just a few years ago. I have a funny feeling that if we all sat down at an oversized table, broke some bread, cracked open some wine and shared stories of who we really are, where we come from and what we hold most dear, we’d start to realise that what makes us raw and human and real is awfully similar to what makes that person sitting across the table from us feel those same things, even if they look a little bit different.

Food, without fail, if you let it, can be the ultimate gathering force, the thread binding us all together. Food is the starting point of what we have in common — which is a hell of a lot more than the differences so many are so quick to point out. Like with most things in life, it just depends on where you choose to put your focus.

Chef Chris Hill left a job in the business world to follow his heart and passion into the world of cooking and the kitchen. Chris opened his first restaurant at 28 and grew into the role of executive chef.

Having taken his experiences in the corporate world, as well as those in the kitchen, Chris has built a large social media following centred around TV appearances all over the Southeast U.S., his writing, TEDx talks, and his mission of helping industry workers to lead fulfilling successful careers.

Chris' first book comes out in the Summer of 2016 and is a dive into what makes for a successful career in the restaurant world, and includes exclusive interviews with some of the world's leading and most respected chefs.

You can follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and read more of his work here.