Religion and Sustainable Food in the Age of Consumer Culture

Francesco Alicino

RIVISTA DI STUDI SULLA SOSTENIBILITA', 2014, vol. 2014/1, issue 1, 101-124

Abstract: Food is not only a collection of products that can be used for statistical or nutritional studies. It is also a system of symbols and images, a protocol of usages, situations and behaviours. And this may also involve a belief in spiritual, invisible and transcendent entities. In brief, it can infer religion. Besides, food consumption cannot be seen as an isolated and innocent act. On the contrary, it is a part of the chains of interdependencies, which bind people together across the world, calling for a change in eating behaviours. To become more sustainable, the act of consuming food needs to be changed, in order to decrease diseases caused by food, eliminating the unreasonable- unfair exploitation and distributions of earth?s natural resources. In order to understand if religion can be seen as a sustainable medium in alimentation, the Author will briefly evaluate some theological roots and religious practices associated with food. His attention is in particular focused on selected examples referring to main Abrahamic religious organizations, that is Catholicism and Islam. Then, he underlines the relationships and interconnections between religious rules and consumerism, the ways in which both are reacting to the problems related to food. In this sense, he tries to explore the interplay and intersections between religion and "consuming passions" in contemporary society. This analysis will lead to better understand how religious and secular values responses to above-mentioned problems; the ways in which both can contribute to a more sustainable-fairly food consumption.

Date: 2014
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