“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
“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
