Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 - Mark McWilliams
Food Rules and Rituals: Etiquette on the Cosmic Table
Food Rules and Rituals - Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2023 - Mark McWilliams
Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus [+]
Wheaton College
Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus is Professor of Religion and Henrietta James Faculty Chair for
Outstanding Teaching at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. His most recent book is
Gastronomic Judaism as Culinary Midrash.
Description
Food rules and rituals, whether articulated intentionally or performed unconsciously in our biologically necessary acts of eating, construct and maintain our fundamental relationships in the world and define who or what we are in it. Drawing from my discipline of religious studies, I suggest for this year’s OSFC topic of ‘Food Rules and Rituals’ some important ‘ground rules’ and examples of how to apply them which I’ve selected from my own research in Jewish, Christian, and American Thanksgiving meal rituals.