Food & Faith: Justice, Joy, and Daily Bread

by Michael Schut (Editor)

From the creator of the bestseller Simpler Living, Compassionate A Christian Perspective comes Food & Faith .

Food is itself a joyful gift – recall how the gift of food so often mediates the sanctity and preciousness of life. This collection of reflections by Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Johnson, Alan Durning and others helps you start thinking about the moral, spiritual and economic implications of eating.

Readings focus on the enjoyment and spirituality of good food, ways in which eating connects us to the land and to each other, and on the economic, environmental and cultural impacts of daily food choices. Food & Faith includes an eight-week study guide for groups or individuals, which leads to setting a table that is healthy, joyful and just.

Genres: Food, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity

296 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Stefanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. The point is, when we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament; when we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration...in such desecration, we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want." ~Wendell Berry

This book is a compilation of essays, edited by Michael Schut who is on staff with Earth Ministry. He describes Earth Ministry as "an ecumenical, Christian, environmental nonprofit organization". How beautiful!!

The book includes essays from MFK Fisher, Marion Nestle, John Robbins, Wendell Berry, Eric Schlosser, among others. Topics include food as sacrament, food as celebratory and social, health, politics, spirituality, Christianity, caring for the land (as a Christian ethic), economics, industrialization of agriculture, worker rights, animal rights, GMOs, hunger...and ends with several hope-filled stories.

This book deeply impressed on me that food is really a gift--people do plant the seeds and water the soil...we have a lot of knowledge and technology...but we cannot MAKE food.

Among all of the books on the topics of health, food, nutrition and Christianity that reside on my bookshelf (and there are many), this is one of the most cherished.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was for a reading/discussion group at my church. Some of the essays were thought-provoking and hopeful, like ones by Wendell Berry and Dan Barker. Some, like the excerpts from Fast Food Nation, I'd already read and a few we did not cover in our study.

The study guide includes Christian prayers for group use, but one would not have to be a person of faith at all to benefit from many of the readings. And, if you are very narrow in your faith, you may be put off by references to Buddism and an odd poem about Mary.

I had hoped the book would discuss more about food justice for the poor. I mean, sure, I can buy some organics and make an extra trip to the farmers market, write my legislators and grow some of my own food, but I'm educated and have resources. I even have the connections to buy local pasture-raised beef. Often, the poor must rely on the cheapest things at the nearest giant grocery and we know that what's cheap and filling is usually not what's healthy and satisfying. It's overwhelming to see how the food industry is generally set up this way, but encouraging to see small ways we can re-connect with and improve the work of feeding ourselves.

[KA · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent reader on issues of food and faith. Includes stories, essays, news articles, and poems on a range of issues including animal ethics, the spirituality of food and meals, genetically modified foods, and human health. In the back there is a curriculum (including ideas for abbreviated use) for leading study groups; it's got great prayers, reflections, and questions for dialogue and deeper meditation. Highly recommended.

[Gala · Rating 3 out of 5]

The breadth of this book's content made it appealing, but the experience of reading coverage ranging from environmental politics to emotional memoir is a bit jarring, as a collection. Still, some of the essays contained in here have, no kidding, changed my life.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part history, part celebration of the wonders of food, part guide to activism. A whole lot of yummy.

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice, broad selection of essays and writings on food and gardening, but many lacked any substantial connection to faith that the title of the book implies.

[Nichole]

Found this one on a bench (not even in a LFL) and took it as a recommendation. Decent.