Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat -- An American History

Independent food
historian Christina Ward's highly anticipated Holy Food explores
the influence of mainstream to fringe religious beliefs on modern American food
culture. Author Christina Ward unravels the numerous ways religious beliefs
intersect with politics and economics and, of course, food to tell a different
story of America. It's the story of true believers and charlatans, of idealists
and visionaries, and of the everyday people who followed them--often at their
peril. Holy Food explains how faith pioneers used societal woes and
cultural trends to create new pathways of belief and reveals the
interconnectivity between sects and their leaders.

Religious beliefs have
been the source of food "rules" since Pythagoras told his followers
not to eat beans (they contain souls), Kosher and Halal rules forbade the
shrimp cocktail (shellfish are scavengers, or maybe G-d just said
"no"). A long-ago Pope forbade Catholics to eat meat on Fridays (fasting
to atone for committed sins). Rules about eating are present in nearly every
American belief, from high-control groups that ban everything except
"air" to the infamous strawberry shortcake that sated visitors to the
Oneida Community in the late 1800s. In America, where the freedom to worship
the god of your choice and sometimes of your own making, embraced old
traditions and invented new ones.

Holy Food looks at how the
explosion of religious movements since the Great Awakenings (the nationwide
religious revivals in the 1730s-40s and 1795-1835) birthed a cottage industry
of food fads that gained mainstream acceptance. And at the obscure sects and
communities of the 20th Century who dabbled in vague spirituality that used
food to both entice and control followers. Ward skillfully navigates between
academic studies, interviews, cookbooks, and religious texts to make sharp
observations and new insights into American history in this highly readable
journey through the American kitchen.

Holy Food features over 75 recipes from religious and communal groups tested and
updated for modern cooks. Also includes over black and white images.