“How can we find what is sublime in our everyday encounters with food? Where is God in the supermarket? Can we see the holy in a strawberry?”
—from the Introduction
Food plays a remarkable role in the daily routine of our lives. Whether we make time to eat with our families, or hit the drive-through on the way to doing something else, food and how we approach it has the extraordinary power to unite us with others and nurture our connection to the Divine.
Provocative and insightful, the eclectic and beautiful pieces in this book will open your eyes to the awe-inspiring link between nourishment and nirvana. Drawing from many faith traditions and backgrounds—including Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Native American, and Sikh—the words in this volume paint a glorious picture of the sanctity waiting to be discovered in a thing so simple—and yet so divine—as food.
Contributors include: Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei • Wendell Berryi • Joan Chittister, osb • Ram Dass • Marc David • Kahlil Gibrani • Jane Goodall • Thich Nhat Hanh • Barbara Kingsolveri • Julius Lester • Mary Rose O’Reilley • Mary Oliveri • Grace Paley • Omid Safi • Kristen Wolfi • … and many others
Praise for Alice Peck’s Work
“A rich collection of texts, large and small, ancient and modern.... Poets, pastors and pastry chefs will all find something here to consider, question or inspire.”
—Daniel Sack, University of Chicago Divinity School; author, Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture
“An ecumenical potpourri of reflections…. Will amuse and edify, prompting [you] to reflect on the ways that the most mundane requirements of life are inseparably bound up with the transcendent.”
—Books & Culture
“Thoughtful, surprising … inspires us to think differently about how we keep our domestic space.... Hard to resist.”
—Washington Post
“Bring[s] light into an often mundane subject matter.... [You] will find enough to provoke thought or a smile and to bring the realization that some things … are indeed universal.”
—Catholic News Service
“A cultural landmark exploring our changing attitudes about home.”
—Detroit Free Press
“Articulates what many women know but hesitate to admit: housekeeping has a unique spiritual quality, if only we will tap into it. Simply read and enjoy.”
—Marcia Ford, author, Finding Hope: Cultivating God’s Gift of a Hopeful Spirit
“Slowly shakes loose our need to constantly distinguish small from large, mundane from sacred, interior from exterior…. Uncommonly joyful in the way it affirms the simplicity we sense directly in spiritual life.”
—Bonnie Myotai Treace, Hermitage Heart Zen
“Finds meaning in the ever-present reality of housekeeping.… It is at once lovely, inspiring and thoughtful.”
—Karyn D. Kedar, author, The Bridge to Forgiveness:
Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness
Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness
“An eclectic and ecumenical treasury of writings—ancient and modern, poetry and prose, secular and sacred…. Dissolves the boundaries between drudgery and dharma, celebrating the opportunities for transcendence that can be found in the everyday. Feng Shui for the heart, mind and soul.”
—Arthur Goldwag, author, The Beliefnet Guide to Kabbalah
