How to Make Food Spiritual

You can ‘max’ in more ways than one.

Food is more than sustenance, or even art. Photo by William Lister

As someone who has celebrated the Mass as a Christian priest for the last 26 years, no-one can tell me that real physical sustenance is not also a deeply spiritual business. The only trouble with the Mass is that the menu options are pretty limited. I do, however, confess that on a walking trip in the Himalayas many years ago, I once used the only foodstuffs available at the time, namely, chapatti and Chinese whisky. To this day, I still believe that this celebration, in extremis, was as real and meaningful as any convent-made priest’s host or monastic vin santo.

“We are what we eat,” said St Augustine many years ago, (in reference to the Mass), but don’t you ever wonder why food seems to be a central part of all religious ritual? And I mean all religious ritual, from offerings to deities, or shared meals by Jews and Christians, to the ending of the solemn fast of Ramadan with succulent dates.

“Food is a window to our souls.”

It reflects not just what we like, but also who, what and where we are as people. Whenever I travel, I always make a point of visiting a food market. They are often colourful vibrant places in their own right, but the food-stuffs being sold, and how they are being sold, tell you a great deal about the people who live…