Sacred Food

What is it about food that makes it such a powerful force in our lives?  And isn't it just that... a powerful force?  Don't our lives, our very physical existence, revolve around food?  Around meals?  And isn't it more than that?  More than just energy for the body?

I was challenged once by a book I read to look at ordinary things of life as sacred.  The Catholic faith tradition has named seven sacraments, but this author prefers to look at even a cup of coffee as sacred.  And I like his way of thinking.  I think it is not the cup of coffee that is sacred in and of itself, but the intentional enjoyment of its rich, warm flavor upon the lips of the drinker that creates a sacred moment.  When the one drinking the coffee reflects on the gift of coffee beans and the labor of those harvesting and roasting the beans and the amazing sense of taste, all of a sudden the act of drinking a cup of coffee has become a sacred moment.

I used to look at food through two lenses that I believe inhibited my ability to see the sacred nature of food.  The first lens was that of How will this affect my taste buds?  And usually if the food tasted very sweet or very salty (like my childhood favorite of a McDonald's strawberry milkshake and french fries), I deemed the food quite "good." The second lens developed in my teen years: How will this affect the shape of my body?  And since it was the Fat-Free Craze of the 90's, I tried to prevent my body from growing fat by eliminating almost all meat, cheese, and fats of ANY kind from my diet. I literally stopped liking those foods.  I lived on "fat-free" carbohydrates... Nutri-Grain bars, meatless spagetti, banana bread, apples, corn bread, carrots, bread with jelly (never butter!), graham crackers, bread, bread, bread....

These two views of food left me largely unsatisfied with food.  I could not understand why I continued to crave more food even after stuffing myself (with sugars and carbs).  It took me years to learn that my body was telling me that it was still hungry, hungry for other fuels such as fats, proteins, and vitamins.  Food became my enemy... a wild animal that I must control lest I grew huge and unattractive.  I tried skipping meals.  I tried making myself throw up when I could not restrict my eating.  I compared what I ate to everyone around me. I thought about food ALL the time.  It was a terrible way to live.  

A nutrition class during my freshman year of college began shaping my understanding of how food functions in the body.  There I learned that we need fat in our diet to burn the sugar and carb calories.  I began eating a varied diet and found that I felt much more satiated and did not blow up into a balloon (I actually lost weight).  When I became a mother, I began paying attention to which foods lined my pantry.  All of a sudden, I didn't want to buy milk with added growth hormones (could this send my innocent child into early puberty?) or produce with chemicals sprayed all over them (could this cause cancer in that perfect little body some day?)  Over the last few years it is safe to say I have developed a passion for nutrition.  I now find it fascinating and fulfilling to discover which foods our bodies were meant to eat and how to prepare them in delicious ways. 

My food lenses have changed. I now desire to eat real food, food that nourishes my body, causing it to feel healthy, energetic, and strong.  Afterall, if what I ingest is not nourishing my body, can I really call it food?  Isn't the very definition of food something that nourishes?  And isn't this physical nourishment a sort of sacrament?  I now find it a near holy act to sit down before a table of garden greens, homemade soup, and fresh-baked muffins and share in a nutritious, delicious meal with loved ones.  

There is something also in the preparation of food that makes it sacred.  A beautiful circle of creativity is involved to bring food to the table. Foremost, our Creator has graciously created an earth to sustain--to nurture--human life.  Think of the many kinds of meat, the vegetation, the vines which produce fruit and berries, the bees which produce honey, the cattle which produce milk, the birds which produce eggs, the trees which produce nuts and syrup, and the oceans which produce fish.  Then there is the faithful nurturing of the earth which we owe our gratitude to the farmers (especially to those who farm in a manner that respects the earth and human life).  And finally there is the love, time and creativity given by the hands of those who prepare the food into tasteful dishes... into food that nourishes, pleases, and satisfies.

While attending a spiritual retreat in West Virgina last summer, I was struck by the simple yet profound blessing the retreat leader gave before our meals.  It went something like this:

"We give thanks to God, to the earth, and to the hands that prepared this food."

I wonder where else we might see the Sacred if we looked more intently.



For a documentary on the problem with our American processed foods, click here.  For a list of 12 of the highest contaminated fruits and vegetables, click here.  To learn more about grassfed animals, click here.  For an excellent blog about cooking with local, fresh ingredients, click here.  And for a great cookbook on eating what's in season, click here.