This Shabbat experience started way before Shabbat, with lots of cooking. I’m no foreigner to having a lot of food on Shabbat but the amount of food that was made by my host family was surreal. I have never seen so many main dishes in one place that wasn’t a restaurant. They had every Sephardic food you could think of and every one you couldn’t think of. They had Kuba which tasted like a meat ball inside a matza ball and was surprisingly delicious, and a type of fish (that I didn’t try) that was doused in a red liquid type of spicy sauce. The hosts wanted you to try everything even if you repeatedly told them that you didn’t like spicy foods; I think their mission was to have you eat so much that you couldn’t fit out the door and have to stay there to eat another day.
Even while playing games and hanging around with them, which was what we did on Shabbat, there was food out. There were always various types of nuts and fruit galore. When you ate so much you thought you would burst they would offer you more complaining that you didn’t eat enough. These families were so friendly and genuinely wanted you to feel at home, that is why there was a never ending amount of food that was brought out of god knows where. They made us feel so welcomed like they truly wanted us to be part of their families.