An indispensable resource for exploring food and faith, this two-volume set offers information on food-related religious beliefs, customs, and practices from around the world. Why do Catholics eat fish on Fridays? Why are there retirement homes for aged cows in India? What culture holds ceremonies to welcome the first salmon? More than five billion people worldwide claim a religious identity that shapes the way they think about themselves, how they act, and what they eat. Food, Feasts, and Faith: An Encyclopedia of Food Culture in World Religions explores how the food we eat every day often serves purposes other than to keep us healthy and stay alive: we eat to express our faith and to adhere to ethnic or cultural traditions that are part of who we are. This book provides readers with an understanding of the rich world of food and faith. It contains more than 200 alphabetically arranged entries that describe the beliefs and customs of well-established major world religions and sects as well as those of smaller faith communities and new religious movements. The entries cover topics such as religious food rules, religious festivals and symbolic foods, and vegetarianism and veganism, as well as general themes such as rites of passage, social justice, hospitality, and compassion. Each entry on religion explains what the religious dietary laws and guidelines are and how these were interpreted and put into practice historically and in modern settings. The coverage also includes important festivals and feast days as well as significant religious figures and organizations. Additionally, some 160 sidebars provide examples and more detailed information as well as fun facts.

Against the backdrop of a world increasingly concerned with the health of the planet, the promotion of sustainable culinary tourism takes on heightened importance. It provides a unique opportunity to engage tourists and locals in a collaborative effort to preserve and celebrate the diverse gastronomic heritage of the world. Food has transcended its role as mere sustenance to become a universal language, effortlessly bridging national divides, linguistic complexities, and cultural distinctions. Promoting Sustainable Gastronomy Tourism and Community Development is an exploration of the dynamic relationship between gastronomy, tourism, and community growth. In a world where cultural intersections are increasingly common, this book unveils the pivotal role of regional culinary traditions in shaping sustainable tourism and fostering local development. The book delves into cuisine, tourism, and community development. Beyond being a palate-pleasing indulgence, gastronomy tourism emerges as a formidable force for positive change. By embracing regional cuisines, individuals contribute to local economies, safeguard cultural legacies, and advance environmental sustainability, all while relishing delectable dishes.

This two-volume set offers information on food-related religious beliefs, customs, and practices from around the world. Provides up-to-date factual information, introduces concepts of food as being more than just nutrients, and enables an understanding of diverse religious traditions and the importance of food in people's lives. Includes coverage of less well-known rituals and religions that are often skipped in world religion texts.

Here is a cookbook to celebrate the joys of family and faith throughout the Christian year. Wonderful recipes and ideas from the Christian tradition offer suggestions on when and why these dishes might be served. 275 recipes bring new meaning to "breaking bread together". Illustrated.

Without a uniform dietary code, Christians around the world used food in strikingly different ways, developing widely divergent practices that spread, nurtured, and strengthened their religious beliefs and communities. Featuring never-before published essays, this anthology follows the intersection of food and faith from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century, charting the complex relationship among religious eating habits and politics, culture, and social structure. Theoretically rich and full of engaging portraits, essays consider the rise of food buying and consumerism in the fourteenth century, the Reformation ideology of fasting and its resulting sanctions against sumptuous eating, the gender and racial politics of sacramental food production in colonial America, and the struggle to define "enlightened" Lenten dietary restrictions in early modern France. Essays on the nineteenth century explore the religious implications of wheat growing and breadmaking among New Zealand's Maori population and the revival of the Agape meal, or love feast, among American brethren in Christ Church. Twentieth-century topics include the metaphysical significance of vegetarianism, the function of diet in Greek Orthodoxy, American Christian weight loss programs, and the practice of silent eating rituals among English Benedictine monks. Two introductory essays detail the key themes tying these essays together and survey food's role in developing and disseminating the teachings of Christianity, not to mention providing a tangible experience of faith.

Learn how the feasts Jesus participated in provides a basis for Christian life today.