In a world of increasing violence, Peace One Day asked us to raise awareness for Peace Day, September 21st. This led us to create Recipeace, a movement that brings conflicting people together over food.

This campaign was created to bring people in strife – who were previously non-participants of Peace Day – to the table to settle their differences over a shared meal on that day.

Recipeace started at the dinner table where each campaign element was designed to turn ordinary meals into peace meals. These elements included: the truce place setting that invited conversation about settling differences, the olive oil bottle that shared the peaceful symbolism of the olive branch and encouraged people to break bread together, as well as table tents and check presenters that juxtaposed the choice between settling a conflict over food or with violence. Each element drove to RecipeaceDay.org, where participants pledged for peace, tweet who should come together over food, and learn more about creating peace meals of their own.

History is filled with examples of food bringing feuding people together in peace, like when opposing soldiers in WWI stopped fighting on Christmas Eve and shared plum pudding. Examples like this identified a basic human truth and offered a unique insight: food can lead to peace by bringing people together.

Recipeace launched in Chicago, and in under four weeks, was embraced by hundreds of restaurants, grocers, chefs, and foodies, who each used the campaign elements to spread the word to the general public. From there, the campaign grew through websites, publications, and people around the world. Ultimately, Recipeace generated over 2.3 million earned media impressions, thousands of tweets worldwide, and countless peace dinners throughout Chicago. More importantly, millions were made aware of Peace One Day’s mission, and the global community came closer to achieving peace, one meal at a time.