I’ve finally come to the final post in this series on common eating, although I may do one more with the pdf form of all the posts if anyone wants to have them all in one place. Again, as has happened at other times during this series I’m not sure that I have come up with the correct name for this last class. My original idea was to call it leftovers, but that sounded a little to cheesy, even for me. Continue reading
As I said at the beginning of this series, I’m not quite sure there is enough material here for a full 13 weeks of classes. This topic is definitely one where I’m a little skeptical on the whole idea of there being a full classes worth of material. Continue reading
Today I want to tackle food and hospitality and the role common eating plays in each of them. I also want to be fairly specific about what I mean when I say hospitality. When I refer to hospitality, I’m not referring so much to laying on nice dinner parties for friends or being the person who always has an abundance of food available to people who happen to drop by. Continue reading
Early in February I wrote a whole post called Keeping the Ferial. The focus of the post was on day-to-day eating. I have a couple of polls up on the right hand side of the blog that ask people about what their general eating habits are both when they eat at home and when they eat alone. Continue reading
Here is the list of the previous posts in this series. I’m simply numbering them for convenience sake. Post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5, and post 6.
I have eliminated one of the posts from this series. That was a post with some bibliographic references. Since the time I first devised the course, I have created a much larger food related bibliography called Eucharistic Eating. This is the book list that I will continue to add to on an ongoing basis.
This week we come to the class on the Eucharist. This class, although only five weeks into the course, is the high point of the Common Eating course. This is the meal that Jesus commanded his followers to continue celebrating after his death, and promised that he would celebrate again with them in his Father’s kingdom.
The common cup
While five weeks in may seem early, one of the reasons for doing this class now, is that subsequent classes will look at our behaviour while glancing back at the Eucharist. Or perhaps another way of looking at it, is to say that while it is important that we are formed by the Eucharist, it is equally, if not more important, to see how the Eucharist may form our life on a daily basis. Continue reading
This post is probably the one that has changed the most since I wrote it. I originally thought that I wouldn’t bother with any textbook. However, I think I’m going to add a cookbook to the list. Not just any cookbook, but the More with Less cookbook. This cookbook is the greatest contribution of Mennonites to the world, well, greatest after Pioneer Farmers Sausage, and Shmaunt Fat.
I also think that I will need to provide material to point students on the best ways to purchase food for large groups of people. I often find that when I’ve shopped and thought that I might not have enough food, that the opposite is true and that I’ve purchased a fair bit more than I need.
A cookie sheet full of roast potatoes is a good, simple cooking option. Cutting larger potatoes, rather than using minis will be a way to cut down on cost.
If you’ve had a chance to read the previous posts in this series, you’ll have noticed an emphasis on the meal that begins each session. This meal is intended to be the central part of the course. I hope to accomplish several things in doing this.
Foremost, is the opportunity for students to get to know each other in a way that a normal seminary class may not allow. The meal allows for something more than a coffee break, even a somewhat protracted one does, for the building of relationships. Continue reading
I’ve written in the last couple of days about wanting to create a seminary course around the idea of Common Eating. Post number 1 gives my rationale for thinking this up in the first place. Post number 2 suggests a possible marking scheme. Post number 3, for today, provides the outline. Over the next two weeks I plan to flesh out that outline.
Week 1 – Introduction and Overview Continue reading
