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Food and Faith
springboards for reflection from
the Center for Process Spirituality
Eating with Reverence
Every kindergarten teacher knows that three things bring children together: food, music, and storytelling. Interfaith leaders know this, too. They know that people of different faiths, and people without any religious affiliation at all, become friends through shared food, music, and storytelling.
This makes good sense to process theologians. We do not think of spirituality as something divorced from life in the world, but rather as the art of living meaningfully and gently, lovingly and creatively, in the world. For us "spirituality" is embodied wisdom and emotional intelligence in daily life, in service to the flourishing of life.
And what makes for flourishing? At the Center for Process Spirituality we use the spiritual alphabet of Spirituality and Practice as a key to understanding and appreciating the many qualities of heart and mind that are part of embodied wisdom and emotional intelligence. In the language of process theology, each letter in the alphabet names a form of "richness of experience." It is such richness, we believe, that the very source of life -- God -- seeks for each and every person. When the enjoyment of food, and also fasting from food, elicits such richness, heaven and earth come together.
This makes good sense to process theologians. We do not think of spirituality as something divorced from life in the world, but rather as the art of living meaningfully and gently, lovingly and creatively, in the world. For us "spirituality" is embodied wisdom and emotional intelligence in daily life, in service to the flourishing of life.
And what makes for flourishing? At the Center for Process Spirituality we use the spiritual alphabet of Spirituality and Practice as a key to understanding and appreciating the many qualities of heart and mind that are part of embodied wisdom and emotional intelligence. In the language of process theology, each letter in the alphabet names a form of "richness of experience." It is such richness, we believe, that the very source of life -- God -- seeks for each and every person. When the enjoyment of food, and also fasting from food, elicits such richness, heaven and earth come together.
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attention - beauty - being present - compassion - connections - devotion - enthusiasm - faith
forgiveness - grace - gratitude - hope - hospitality - imagination - joy - justice - kindness - listening love - meaning - nurturing - openness - peace - play - questing - reverence - shadow - silence teachers - transformation - unity - vision - wonder - x, the mystery - yearning - you - zeal |
Of course the enjoyment of food never occurs in isolation. It is embedded in the preparation of food, which can itself be a 'spiritual' activity. It is embedded in a social system dependent on those who grow, transport, and distribute food, which in our time is filled with injustices in the way laborers, distributors, and small farmers are treated. It is embedded in the 'business' of agribusiness. It is embedded in the earth itself and our relations with the earth. In the spiritual alphabet "J" is for justice, including justice for the forsaken and forgotten; and "R" is for reverence, including reverence for life and, yes, reverence for life-nourishing food.
Eating mindfully and prayerfully and healthily is good, but not good enough. "A" is for attention, and part of spiritual eating must include attention to the larger context of all eating. The aim of spiritually sensitive eating, must be to help bring about local communities that are creative, compassionate, participatory, diverse, inclusive, humane to animals, and good for the earth, with no one left behind. In process theology we speak of these communities as eco-communities: the building blocks of what we call ecological civilizations. Eating with reverence is eating that savors, respect, enjoys and helps bring about such civilizations.
The Center for Process Spirituality offers this page as a resource for individuals and communities who want to reflect upon relations between eating, spirituality, faith, and hopes for a more just and sustainable world.
-- Jay McDaniel, April 2020
Eating with Conscience
For the sake of the Earth Community
'But there are also virtues in having farmers in your community. These people understand something about nature that a lot of the rest of us don’t—about water, about weather. If there were no farms in my town in New England, there would be no farmers. These are people who are artists or craftsmen of nature. The best ones have developed models to teach us how to get along better in nature than we do. And to lose that whole encyclopedia of knowledge would be a terrible loss."
-- Michael Pollan
Fasting: A Counter-Cultural Practice
"The difficulty of fasting — from food or any other compulsion — in a consumer-driven culture where instant gratification has become the norm is apparent. Fasting is counter-cultural: those who would fast will have to be highly motivated. They will do well to seek guidance and support — from prayer, from others, from spiritual reading. Recall the Buddhist principle of 'right association': by associating and imitating those whose spirit we see as holy, we can make progress along the Way." (Carole Garibaldi Rogers, as quoted in Spirituality and Practice)
"Many of us are moved emotionally by the realization of needs and our complicity in poverty, but we are far too often more moved emotionally than we are moved to do something about it. Fasting might be the best way for many of us to seal the moment; fasting for a day might be what we most need to change our own pathetic passivity in the face of famine. It might be the way for each of us to bring our entire person in line with the heart God has for the poor." (Scot McNight, as quoted in Spirituality and Practice)
"Many of us are moved emotionally by the realization of needs and our complicity in poverty, but we are far too often more moved emotionally than we are moved to do something about it. Fasting might be the best way for many of us to seal the moment; fasting for a day might be what we most need to change our own pathetic passivity in the face of famine. It might be the way for each of us to bring our entire person in line with the heart God has for the poor." (Scot McNight, as quoted in Spirituality and Practice)
"This perception about fasting makes it one of the most misunderstood spiritual disciplines. One reason for it can be traced to four common images that come to mind when Christians think or talk about their bodies: as a monster to be conquered, as a celebrity to be glorified, as a cornucopia to be filled, or as a wallflower to be ignored. A much better approach is to admit the sacredness of the body and see as a vehicle through which God can work." (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice)
Fasting During Ramadan
Creating an Open Space in the Heart
to Receive God's Nourishment
Mihai Surdu
'We can look for nourishment in food and addictive substances. We can look for nourishment in getting attention and approval from other people. We can look for nourishment in money and career achievements. We can look for nourishment even in controlling and manipulating others. But nothing can actually nourish our hearts and minds except the presence, the grace, and the mercy of God in our lives.
When we Muslims say the core principle of our faith, “There is no god but God,” one way to read this is: “There is no nourishment except God’s nourishment.”
So the principle behind fasting from food is the turning of our hearts and minds away from the false sources of nourishment to the one true source of nourishment. In this way, Ramadan is less about saying no to food and more about saying yes to God."
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Let’s make Ramadan an open space where different people can practice the principle behind fasting in different ways — keeping God the main focus. In this open space, even Christians, Jews, and all people from other faiths can join us. This is my kind of Ramadan.
Let’s use this month to intensify our awareness of God, our relationship with God, our service to God. Whatever form that takes, let’s own it. Whatever road that makes, let’s walk it. This is our Ramadan and God is waiting to feed our hearts.
(Rahim Snow in On Being with Krista Tippett)
When we Muslims say the core principle of our faith, “There is no god but God,” one way to read this is: “There is no nourishment except God’s nourishment.”
So the principle behind fasting from food is the turning of our hearts and minds away from the false sources of nourishment to the one true source of nourishment. In this way, Ramadan is less about saying no to food and more about saying yes to God."
*
Let’s make Ramadan an open space where different people can practice the principle behind fasting in different ways — keeping God the main focus. In this open space, even Christians, Jews, and all people from other faiths can join us. This is my kind of Ramadan.
Let’s use this month to intensify our awareness of God, our relationship with God, our service to God. Whatever form that takes, let’s own it. Whatever road that makes, let’s walk it. This is our Ramadan and God is waiting to feed our hearts.
(Rahim Snow in On Being with Krista Tippett)
Faith Customs
Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Sikh
"In a culture often obsessed with haute cuisine and fed by big-agra, it is easy to forget how food, faith, and fasting play critical roles in all religious, spiritual traditions. If you were brought up in a religious family, you may know a lot about food in your own tradition. No surprise, other traditions are equally engaged in what their food means and the many ways it relates to their practice.
Two years ago the Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations in Sydney, Australia published a short collection of stories about food and faith, written by a Melkite Catholic, a Jew, a Sikh, and a Muslim. Each was asked to reflect briefly on the meaning and significance of food in their religion and culture. And in fact, the lovely details they share represent but a snippet of the food traditions in their respective communities. Imagine a hundred or several hundred similarly rich stories from other traditions to discern how important food and drink are to us human beings, above and beyond keeping us alive."
Two years ago the Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations in Sydney, Australia published a short collection of stories about food and faith, written by a Melkite Catholic, a Jew, a Sikh, and a Muslim. Each was asked to reflect briefly on the meaning and significance of food in their religion and culture. And in fact, the lovely details they share represent but a snippet of the food traditions in their respective communities. Imagine a hundred or several hundred similarly rich stories from other traditions to discern how important food and drink are to us human beings, above and beyond keeping us alive."
Photos from "Interfaith Perspectives on Food and Faith"
Interfaith Eating
Review of Abe: a film directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade
A spiritually inspiring story about how a young man
tries to bring his diverse family together through food.
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Film Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
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When his parents enroll him in an amateur and very basic cooking camp for the summer, Abe sneaks away and goes to Chico’s kitchen. He’s happy when the chef says he’ll teach him some things if he helps around the very busy kitchen. This turns into a Karate Kid-like experience where Abe is not allowed to do any cooking until he learns kitchen basics: washing dishes, sweeping up, and taking out the trash.
Eventually, though, he has a chance to work on his own dishes under Chico’s guidance. He learns how to mix and match flavors to create harmony. Buoyed by his culinary creativity, this earnest young man decides to create a magnificent Thanksgiving meal using elements from the cuisine of his family’s different cultures.
Adlai Stevenson has written: "I think that one of our most important tasks is to convince others that there's nothing to fear in difference, that difference, in fact, is one of the healthiest and most invigorating of human characteristics without which life would become meaningless." At the tender age of 12, Abe learns how to bring diverse people together. Watching this miracle happen on the screen is spiritually inspiring. The Creator loves diversity, and so do we.
Eventually, though, he has a chance to work on his own dishes under Chico’s guidance. He learns how to mix and match flavors to create harmony. Buoyed by his culinary creativity, this earnest young man decides to create a magnificent Thanksgiving meal using elements from the cuisine of his family’s different cultures.
Adlai Stevenson has written: "I think that one of our most important tasks is to convince others that there's nothing to fear in difference, that difference, in fact, is one of the healthiest and most invigorating of human characteristics without which life would become meaningless." At the tender age of 12, Abe learns how to bring diverse people together. Watching this miracle happen on the screen is spiritually inspiring. The Creator loves diversity, and so do we.