Bread of Life: A Cookbook for Body and Soul / Art of the Inner Meal: Eating as a Spiritual Path / Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia, The

Anglican Theological Review, Summer 2001 by Hemert, Katherine Amato-von

The Bread of Life: A Cookbook for Body and Soul. By The Episcopal Church Women. Harrisburg, Pa.: Morehouse Publishing, 2000. x + 276 pp. $25.00 (cloth).

Art of the Inner Meal: Eating as a Spiritual Path. By Donald Altman. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1999. 230 pp. $20.00 (cloth).

Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia. Edited by James L. Watson. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. xvi + 256 pp. $47.00 (cloth); $18.95 (paper).

When "spiritual hunger" is the problem, "food and faith" is one solution. Each of these books looks seriously at the spiritual and cultural depths of hunger and its role in our lives. The spiritually hungry are nourished, body and soul, by The Bread of Life: A Cookbook for Body and Soul, which is no ordinary cookbook. It is also a theological treatise that takes seriously both the Incarnation and the role of hospitality in Christian practice. It's an inviting book for those who may have never read a theology book before, and for those who've read many. I am thankful for Ellen Robinson Rolfes who led the group of Episcopal Church Women (ECW) collaborators.

The Bread of Life serves up appetizer, main course and dessert for any Christian education program or leisurely reader. The recipes and illustrations serve as embodied evidence of the truthfulness of the Bible passages, meaty meditations, and blessings from thirty-two parishes across the country that are also included. Scripture and reflection introduce every section of recipes (e.g., soups, fish and fowl, meats, preserves, desserts, etc.). In addition, little snippets of Scripture are tucked in among the recipes-as if, indeed, one might pray while fixing dinner, or cook in the spirit of God's generosity. But these are not the Scripture snippets you may expect to find. This is not an oversight. The lections are pointedly concerned with food, its sources, its preparation, and individual and corporate healing. The miracle feedings Jesus presided over are beside the point the ECW makes. They know that meals for thousands take hundreds to create miraculously. Passages from Exodus, Ruth, Ezekiel, 2 Samuel, and 1 Chronicles are balanced by those from the Synoptics. The message is clear: God's people prepare and feast on the bounty created by God, joyfully in God's presence.

The sumptuous recipes attest to that bounty. They offer classic regional American cooking in the friendly, unfussy style typical of the Moosewood series. There is nothing here of the infamous green-bean casserole with canned mushroom soup, or cookies made with M&Ms. Instead there are directions for Native American fry bread or homemade tortillas, but with none of the self-conscious cuteness with which "ethnic" food is presented in Bon Appetit. A good cook of my acquaintance recognized absolutely reliable directions for many basics such as minestrone or black-bean soup alongside marvelous new discoveries such as a rich Hungarian mushroom soup with soy and paprika. Vegetables are accorded the respect they deserve as increasingly central to wise eating. Best of all, she found some childhood favorites she has been hunting for all her adult life: sweet and sour green beans, and a baked "doughnut" muffin. This is, she insists, an honest, reliable, creative "first cookbook" for her twenty-something children and a worthy addition to her substantial collection as well.

Such culinary bounty is set amidst spiritual bounty. Ellen Robinson Rolfe's theological reflections treat us to six-year-old Catherine of Siena deciding between remaining in prayerful bliss or joining her family at the table; wisdom from the mother of the "prodigal son" and his dutiful brother; discovery of the "International Slow Food Movement," begun when McDonald's first opened its doors in Rome, now active in thirty-five countries; and exploration of God's economy manifested in the sharing of garden excess during zucchini season. The communion with God and one another that meals make possible is everywhere evident. "It is not that the altar is no more holy than a table: it's that if you pay attention, every table can be as holy as the altar," the authors tell us.

Thirty-two blessings come at the end of the book but "send us out to do the work God gives us to do, to love and serve as faithful witnesses .... ECW is mindful of its witness, as the Diocese of Southwest Florida's prayer indicates, "Thank God for dirty dishes, they have a tale to tell. While other folks go hungry, we're eating very well. With home and health and happiness, we shouldn't want to fuss. For by this stack of evidence, God's very good to us. Amen." That combination of holiness and hilarity characterizes Church potlucks.

Donald Altman's Art of the Inner Meal: Eating as a Spiritual Path provides context and counterpoint to The Bread of Life. Altman, raised Jewish and an experienced Theravada Buddhist monk, explores in rich, theological detail food principles and practices from the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions. Evocative stories of meals in monastic communities, at family dinner tables and elsewhere are explored in light of central faith affirmations, many held in common by several traditions. Exploration of such issues as ritual, dietary codes, cleansing, communion, caritas and compassionate fasting are complemented by specific "spiritual meal guidelines" exercises for readers to practice.