Writing and retelling multiple ethnographic tales of a soup kitchen for the homeless

In this article, the authors narrate three tales about a soup kitchen for the homeless and near-homeless. The authors begin with the realist tale to provide a cultural, ethnographic analysis of the culture of the soup kitchen. The confessional tale emerged from the realist tale, as the authors reflected on their fieldwork experiences and shared their ethnographic study with their qualitative research classes. As the authors presented the study to social justice researchers after leaving the field, the critical tale emerged, leading the authors to interrogate their realist and confessional tales and consider the broader political, social, economic, and symbolic implications of their work. This text also describes how multiple ethnographic tales emerge and are further shaped by the retelling of those tales.