Summary:
Food and eating are basic elements of human survival; mundane,
quotidian acts that provide the nutrients required for all life. Yet all
humans—even the most detached secular humans—participate in rituals surrounding
food and eating. The birthday cake, the Thanksgiving turkey, the fork on the
left and the knife on the right are all examples of food rituals. The fact is,
however, that food and eating, perhaps because they are so essential a part of
life, provide an opportunity for connection to a reality that far transcends
our mundane, quotidian lives.
