Abstract

This book focuses on food history and the historical degradation of food in the United States. Corporate greed and agribusinesses are at the center of our loss of what Dr. Marbut calls our “spiritual foodways.” She suggests that chemically altered genomes, polluting our ecosystems as well as weakening our personal health and social wellbeing, have compromised our collective welfare. Even though a growing recognition of the sacred dimension of caring for ecosystems, bodies, and communities is sparking one of the most significant phenomena of spiritual renewal in the twenty-first century, the sacrosanct nature of historical food systems has not been examined, until now, as a vital weapon in activists’ efforts against industrialized means of food production. By utilizing interdisciplinary approaches to food studies, Dr. Marbut explores food history through writings concerned with the consumption of food as a spiritual, physical, sensual, and communal endeavor, expressing cross-cultural research showcasing the deeply embedded nature of women and food. She believes that our ethical relationship with food is dependent upon our knowledge of the treatment of each commodity: plant or animal. A right relationship with food, she argues, comes first from knowing food history from a spiritual perspective. Her work centers upon the notion that food should be understood as both whole and holy.