Sacred Food: Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Elisabeth Luard (Author) "The Cree Indians of Canada, observed the philosopher Claude Levi-Strauss, were in the habit of offering the first fruit of every harvest to the forces..." (more)
Key Phrases: fasting supper, temple cooks, white bread flour, Christmas Eve, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A beautiful collection" -- The Vancouver Sun

"Fascinating. . . .Sacred Food reaches beyond being a cookbook to foods foundation in the life of the spirit." -- Myrna Collins, The Post-Crescent

"For gourmets or anyone who longs to celebrate food and life...will delight, educate, inspire and feed the soul." -- Lisa Mohr, The Dispatch/The Rock Island Argus

"Sacred Food provides a fascinating look at these traditions world-wide with clear, detailed recipes." -- Marilynn Marter, The Philadelphia Enquirer

"Splendidly written, lavishly illustrated . . . Luard's passionate interest enlivens every page." -- Gourmet magazine

"The recipes are wonderful." -- Claudia Conlon, The Wine News

A combination of scholarship and good food, ranging in scope from the mystical to the practical. -- The Carteret County News-Times

Elizabeth Luard . . . used her lively intelligence and wide experience to write a book that is perhaps more ethnogastronomy than cookbook. -- Cookbook Digest

It will astound and astonish you. -- The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey

Product Description
Food nourishes our souls and is a vital part of our religious ceremonies and secular celebrations. Sacred Food explores the dishes that are traditionally served at significant moments in human life-birth, puberty, courtship, betrothal and marriage, death, burial, and remembrance-and unravels why and how we celebrate with food. More than 40 recipes include pan de muertos, prepared for the Mexican Day of the Dead; piroshki from Slovakia, to celebrate the birth of a baby; cassava with chili and peanuts, to mark an African girl's coming-of-age; and the honey cake, prepared for a Turkish wedding feast. One hundred stunning images bring to life a wealth of recipes and myriad cultures including those of Mexico, Japan, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, North America, the Middle East, Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556523939
• ISBN-13: 978-1556523939
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,628,108 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than 40 sumptuous recipes to delight, January 9, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

In Sacred Food: Cooking For Spiritual Nourishment, award-winning food writer Elisabeth Luard takes the reader on a fascinating and inspiring survey of dishes traditionally served at significant and celebatory moments ranging from birth, puberty, courtship, and betrothal, to marriage, death, burial, and remembrance. Along the way Luard illuminates how and why we celebrate such human milestones with food. Superb images showcase a wealth of recipes and myriad cultures from Mexico, Japan, Spain, Italy, and Indonesia, to North American, the Middle East, Germany, Scandinavia, and Britain. From Mushroom Piroshki for an Eastern European birth basket, to Kerala Coconut Curry prepared for an Indian wedding feast, Sacred Food offers more than 40 sumptuous recipes to delight, educate, and please the palate. Sacred Foods is highly recommended for culinary gourmets and students of the cultural role food plays in human societies around the world.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring, January 21, 2008

By	Queen Sharon "Queen Sharon" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Food: Cooking for Spiritual Nourishment (Paperback)

I got this book as a requirment for my class. There are only 3 chapters in this book. I felt like it just dragged on and on. It really needed to have more breaks. It had very interesting topics about food and rituals, but it wasn't a very smooth read. It bored me. The pictures are great and I like how it includes some recipes, but this book won't be living on my shelf any longer.