Food

"Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue"

Black barbecue has always been a remarkably religious experience, says a James Beard award-winning food writer in this excerpt from his new book.

By Adrian Miller Executive director, Colorado Council of Churches

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Setting a just table is life-giving for food consumers and producers

Our ability to eat is intertwined with systems of immigration and food production. Christian leaders must address justice issues in both, writes a managing director of Leadership Education at Duke Divinity.

By Maria Teresa Gastón Managing director, Leadership Education at Duke Divinity

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Nurya Love Parish: Tracking the Christian food movement

Church leaders need to recognize the potential for new ministry at the intersection of food, agriculture, and discipleship, says an Episcopal priest who has compiled the first comprehensive guide to the Christian food movement.

Stacey Toews: How a fair-trade business helps further the work of Christ

Level Ground Trading is dedicated to fair trade with farmers. But its co-founder also has a larger, theological vision: a system designed for the good of all.

Remembering my friend Jocelyn

The lonely death of a member of his community prompts the director of a community garden to reconsider the project’s mission.

By Chas Edens Executive director, Anathoth Community Garden & Farm

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Grace Hackney: Eating faithfully is a key to living faithfully

A North Carolina program for clergy, congregations and communities called Life Around the Table focuses on eating well as a way to nurture healthy Christian communities. The key, as its founder says in this interview, is developing a eucharistic imagination.

Toward a theology of barbecue

Whether adjective, noun or verb, “barbecue” has a theological dimension that is deeply enmeshed in church culture -- especially in the African-American church, writes the culinary historian, barbecue judge and executive director of the Colorado Council of Churches.

By Adrian Miller Executive director, Colorado Council of Churches

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Fasting from tomatoes

Eating seasonally can be a Lenten discipline in the age of climate change -- a way to cultivate a habit that the world needs, that lasts beyond the 40 days.

By Christine Hribar Associate pastor

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What does the gospel taste like?

By Alaina Kleinbeck Director, Thriving in Ministry Coordination Program

Food is part of many church gatherings. But do we ever stop and consider what our food practices communicate about our relationship with God?

Blessed are the stewmakers

A North Carolina pastor explodes some of the cherished myths surrounding church-made Brunswick stew. (Fill in the blank with your regional specialty.)

By Cheryl M. Lawrence United Methodist pastor

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Soil and Sacrament: A Spiritual Memoir of Food and Faith

By Fred Bahnson Director, Food, Faith and Religious Leadership Initiative

In this excerpt from the prologue of his new book, writer Fred Bahnson recounts his visits with four different faith communities -- Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal and Jewish -- to explore the connection between feeding the spirit and feeding the body.