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Shelf Number | Material Type | Copy | Shelf Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 394.1203 FIE | 1:E-BOOK | 1 | 1:ONLINE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
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.
Author Notes
Paul Fieldhouse , PhD, is adjunct professor in human nutritional sciences at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, where he teaches about food, culture, and religion in the graduate program.
Reviews (2)
Choice Review
This two-volume work covers the food preferences, dietary restrictions, and food-sharing, feasting, and fasting practices of the major world religions and religious movements. Access to the contents is provided through an alphabetical list of entries (fish Fridays, pig avoidance, Sikh festival calendar, tea ceremony, water, etc.) and a topical guide repeated in both volumes; readers interested in a particular country or culture are best served by first checking the detailed index. A selection of primary documents and uncommon secondary sources (totaling 27 public-domain items) is presented following the short articles in volume 2. The encyclopedia entries include short reference lists; a longer bibliography of recommended readings appears separately at the end of the set. Nutritionist Fieldhouse (Univ. of Manitoba), who has worked on food security for the provincial government, is also author of Food and Nutrition: Customs and Culture (CH, Mar'87), among other works exploring the fascinating intersections of food and culture. Readers will find color photographs throughout but may be surprised at the sometimes-truncated, summary treatments of Indigenous peoples of Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. Several of the author's write-ups (e.g., the discussion about rice) offer more detail, pulling together numerous facts about the ritual or religious associations with the topic in multiple countries and cultures. The North American (US and Canadian) Thanksgiving observance, now primarily a secular celebration, is included because of the original association with religious practices or customs. Though there is scant mention of Andean or Mayan cultures of the past or present, one finds entries that address Aztec heritage and the historical and modern Day of the Dead in Latin America and elsewhere. Overall, the author's treatment, varying as it does, suffices to direct beginning students to the sources required for more in-depth understanding of the relationship between cultural expressions of faith and comestibles. Summing Up: Recommended. High school through undergraduate students; general readers. --Kate Cleland-Sipfle, Southern Oregon University
Library Journal Review
This set's "world religions" claim is truly borne out by its inclusion of Jain, -Confucian, Sikh, Baha'i, Shinto, Zoroastrian, Tao, and animist faiths, as well as some more local or unstructured groups, besides the major religions of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism. In a thoughtful introduction, Fieldhouse (human nutritional sciences, Univ. of -Manitoba, Winnipeg) notes the essential components of religion; examines social science, health science, and ethical dimensions of the subject; cites the roles of dietary codes (and their many variations and evolution); and describes the different functions of food in faith. Readers will find sidebars (a few with recipes), black-and-white photos, the index, topics lists, and individual religious calendars useful. A concise overview of each religion's origins, demographics, beliefs, rituals, and social practices extends far beyond provisions. Especially interesting are broad entries on social justice and food, miracles, and rites of passage as well as articles on specific items (coffee, alcohol). Fasting (with separate articles on the practice in seven religions) outranks feasting (with merely five entries), though five marriage/wedding articles tip the scales back. A selective list of mostly recent resources and 50 pages of excerpts from 27 primary documents (with brief contextual introductions) increase the value of the set. General readers at the high school level and above will appreciate the admirably clear and accurate writing. VERDICT This richly informative work, introducing ties among food, culture, religion, and history, efficiently and accessibly adds to readers' understanding of diverse religious traditions and provides a solid jumping-off point for further research.-Patricia D. Lothrop, formerly of St. George's Sch., Newport, RI © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.