Eating with Respect

Being on a farm means being plopped down in the midst of creation.  It also caused some unexpected moments of reflection about the food being eaten.  Contrary to the popular opinion that food comes in cans from the grocery store, it really comes from dirt.  Being here these years has kept me grounded.  It has caused me to realize that the way we eat or handle our food can express disrespect instead of gratitude.  And about the same time that I got here, I started reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,"  by Barbara Kingsolver which really opened a new world when it comes to food and eating.

 

More recently I have started reading a book entitled "Food and Faith"  by Norman Wirzba.  The subtitle for the book is "A Theology of Eating."  Who would have thought such a thing existed?  One of the things this author says in the earlier pages set the tone for what follows, "Food is God's love made nutritious and delicious, given for the good of each other.  The mundane act of eating is thus a daily invitation to move responsibly and gracefully within this given life."  While this reading is in its infancy stages, it is obvious that Wirzbais is going to open up some interesting things for consumption.

 

Whether we think of food as an expression of love, or as a gift, the act of eating can be a moment of expressing gratitude or disrespect.  Growing beef for the table here at the farm has brought with it a new appreciation for the food eaten, a respect for it that makes wasting any of it seem like a sin, and a gratitude that goes beyond the table blessing.  When we eat so hurriedly that we hardly know what we eat, or how it tastes, we have come to a place of taking for granted something divinely given.  What we eat does speak of God' love and His gift as well as the uncountable sacrifice of animals and people who labor to get the food to us.