Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat -- An American History - Christina Ward

\nDoes God have a recipe? \n\n \n \n \nIndependent food \nhistorian Christina Ward's highly anticipated Holy Food explores \nthe influence of mainstream to fringe religious beliefs on modern American food \nculture. Author Christina Ward unravels the numerous ways religious beliefs \nintersect with politics and economics and, of course, food to tell a different \nstory of America. It's the story of true believers and charlatans, of idealists \nand visionaries, and of the everyday people who followed them--often at their \nperil. Holy Food explains how faith pioneers used societal woes and \ncultural trends to create new pathways of belief and reveals the \ninterconnectivity between sects and their leaders. \n \n\n \nReligious beliefs have \nbeen the source of food rules since Pythagoras told his followers \nnot to eat beans (they contain souls), Kosher and Halal rules forbade the \nshrimp cocktail (shellfish are scavengers, or maybe G-d just said \nno). A long-ago Pope forbade Catholics to eat meat on Fridays (fasting \nto atone for committed sins). Rules about eating are present in nearly every \nAmerican belief, from high-control groups that ban everything except \nair to the infamous strawberry shortcake that sated visitors to the \nOneida Community in the late 1800s. In America, where the freedom to worship \nthe god of your choice and sometimes of your own making, embraced old \ntraditions and invented new ones.\n \nHoly Food looks at how the \nexplosion of religious movements since the Great Awakenings (the nationwide \nreligious revivals in the 1730s-40s and 1795-1835) birthed a cottage industry \nof food fads that gained mainstream acceptance. And at the obscure sects and \ncommunities of the 20th Century who dabbled in vague spirituality that used \nfood to both entice and control followers. Ward skillfully navigates between \nacademic studies, interviews, cookbooks, and religious texts to make sharp \nobservations and new insights into American history in this highly readable \njourney through the American kitchen.\n \nHoly Food features over 75 recipes from religious and communal groups tested and \nupdated for modern cooks. Also includes over black and white images.\n