The Faith in One's Food: Food as an Aspect of Religious Proselytization and Polemic

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Mens et Mensa: Society for the Study of Food in the Middle Ages

Organizer Name

John August Bollweg

Organizer Affiliation

College of DuPage

Presider Name

Natalie E. Latteri

Presider Affiliation

Univ. of New Mexico

Paper Title 1

The Meals and Manipulation of Margery Kempe

Presenter 1 Name

Katherine Gubbels

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Memphis College of Art

Paper Title 2

The Problem with Pork: Anxiety and Consumption in Medieval Spain

Presenter 2 Name

Martha M. Daas

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Old Dominion Univ.

Paper Title 3

Food and Religious Identity in Early Yiddish Epic

Presenter 3 Name

Margot B. Valles

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Michigan State Univ.

Start Date

12-5-2017 3:30 PM

Session Location

Bernhard 213

Description

Food functions as a cultural and/or ethnic identifier as well as one of the more accessible points of inter-group contact. Though useful in creating a more cosmopolitan worldview, tolerance, and inclusivity, food-based contact has also historically provided anxieties regarding acculturation. This session examines how food functions within inter-confessional and inter-cultural communities during the Middle Ages (ca. 500 through ca. 1500 CE), both as an implement of religious proselytization and of polemic.

John A. Bollweg