The Theological Importance of Food in Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity

We have read primary and secondary texts that address ritual and religious understandings of food derived from Hinduism (the Upanishads), Judaism (Leviticus, and the Seder meal and narrative), and Christianity (the Eucharist). In the unique variations of the various different perspectives we are offered a holistic view of religion, its relationship to food, and therefore an understanding of what it means to be human.

The study of Judaism and the texts of Leviticus are often viewed as a sort of cookbook or as a list of “thou shalt nots”. The religious texts for the Jewish people reads like a list of rules to follow to achieve perfection, or favor with God. Douglas writes, “rules are the allegories of virtues and vices”

A discussion of the practices, texts and religion of Judaism would be remiss without a note on sacrifice, which Douglas notes is “the most important act of the Jewish religion.” The practice of sacrifice is a major component to both this faith and the diet of the Jews. Sacrifice is at its core the taking of life of a fellow creature, a fellow “not God” even though killing is reserved for God himself. In doing so we as humans are not only assuming his role but we do so only under and because of his specific permission.

From these instructions arises a deep concern for mixture, which Douglas refers to as “separateness, the next idea that emerges is of the Holy as wholeness and completeness.” Which infers that us mere mortals are the other end of the spectrum: imperfect and flawed. Much of the texts of Leviticus falls under the idea that “different classes of things shall not be confused.” The implied but never explicitly made argument here would be that God in his perfection has created a system of differences and to muddle those distinctions would be to disobey Him and challenge his omnipotent wisdom.

While the religious texts of the Jews focuses heavily on the practices and procedures of sacrifice, Christianity attempts to distance itself from sacrifice because of their belief in the one big sacrifice at the core of the faith: Jesus Christ, who eliminates the need for sacrifice. The religion and corresponding texts are remembrances and tributes to that great sacrifice. To celebrate their freedom from the bonds of traditional Jewish law, the Christians look to symbolize and highlight the corporal aspects of the scapegoat: flesh and blood.

Hinduism takes the most literal approach in its relationship and the symbolic and literal union with food. The texts of the Hindi people, the Upanishads, explain that food is what is experienced by the conscious, either directly by itself or indirectly through certain organs. It feeds and sustains individuality and therefore is the midst of matter. It is argued that intellect and other organs exist only to enable the conscious to experience food or matter.

In looking at the different religious practices from the perspective of food our understanding of religion is altered. The structure of differences gives meaning to the categories. In defining categories A system of classification arises that is separated and is translated into the language of food.

Douglas writes, “God’s work through the blessing is essentially to create order, through which men’s affairs prosper…. Where the blessing is withdrawn and the power of the curse unleashed, there is barrenness, pestilence, confusion.” Violations of these categories and classifications that have been set forth ruin the order and the system of differences. They cause disorder in the order and dysfunction to the system. They make the logical thought process incoherent, a blemish on perfection. It is through this highlighting of violations that we call attention to the classifications.

Furthermore, our understandings of food are challenged when we look closely at the religious texts and their decrees. Food is the physical, tangible, and visible communication of that which is unseen yet still believed. Food adds another layer to the meanings of the religious texts because it is an additional dimension with which the religion can be expressed, practiced, and understood within the context of the world.

Food is compulsory; food is always an every day activity. For those who do not eat daily, even the denial is perpetual. Food acts as a catalyst for submission to a higher power by being the means through which His laws and decrees are obeyed or ignored.

Food is furthermore a social activity. “Cooking is a language through which a society expresses itself” writes Soler. And by this she means that it is the compilation and summation of the history and culture of a people particular to a certain geographic climate and ethnicity. Barthes writes that that which we eat and that which defines particular cultures, be it sugar or wine is “not just a food stuff… it is, if you will, ‘an attitude’” To enter into an establishment or an institution that celebrates the cuisine of the culture is to “experience the day, periods of rest, traveling, and leisure in a specific fashion that is certain to have its impact on (that culture).” To this end, food is a vessel of appreciation for the entire society.

It appears as though a distinction of macro and micro has arisen on the ideas of food in the religious world. The religious texts of these three diverse practices seem to suggest that how one conducts themselves with food is how they are to be judged on a wider scale. By taking the food into your body, the body is the means through which you experience the religious. Interactions with food are manifestations of the connections to ones belief system. And therefore, an experience with food is vital to your understanding of the world.