“O, Lord… Take away our fear of fat, and make us glad of the oil which ran upon Aaron’s beard. Give us pasta with a hundred fillings, and rice in a thousand variations. Above all, give us grace to live as true men- to fast till we come to a refreshed sense of what we have and then to dine gratefully on all that comes to hand… cast out the demons that possess us; deliver us from the fear of calories and the bondage of nutrition…” Nourishment is only for awhile; what we shall need forever is taste. (Robert Farrar Capon)
In this one toast Capon brings up two big ideas, 1. feasting and 2. dining gratefully.
Feasting
I have been intrigued with the relationship of fasting versus dieting. I think dieting is from the devil. Dieting seems kind of cruel; you can’t eat most of what you wish you could and that is how you will lose weight. Then when you get tired of the diet food, you eat like you did before… and gain back all the weight. And on top of all that weight gain you feel guilty because you didn’t stick to the diet.
The Bible makes use of another means to enjoy food more fully and in the end maintain a decent weight, fasting. Fasting and feasting let you enjoy the food you love guilt free.
A general rule of thumb straight from the Bible is, when you’re happy and among friends, eat but when you’re depressed, fast. ”A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry; but money answers everything.” (Amen!) And if it’s not a feast day,eat lightly. Save the feasting appetite for feasting with friends. If you are the sort who eats when you’re depressed; stop. It’s not right.
The Bible always combines feasting (which is a positive way of over-eating) with celebrating, never with depression. Fasting is always associated with sadness and mourning; “‘Now, therefore,’ says the lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting with weeping, and with mourning.’” Joel 2:12
We have those days where there are no holds barred, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, birthdays and Sundays in general. Those are not days to eat half portions and worry about weight gain. But when plain old Monday morning rolls around, toast is good enough… with home-made strawberry freezer jam.
We need to learn when to feast and when to fast.
Dining Gratefully
Dining gratefully is lacking in America. We are so rich with variety and in quantity of food that we have come to despise food and view it as a curse. Americans have always embraced dieting which is in one sense a way of fearing food, and now there is a new way to diss God’s goodness to us: food allergies. I know I’m putting my neck out there to mention this but you can’t swing a dead cat without hearing about somebody’s food allergy.
Is it me or are there more people than ever with food allergies these days?
These pseudo-allergies allow us to obsess over lists of ingredients on every package of food, ferreting out that bit of flour, that bit of dairy. Do people in India, North Korea or Pakistan have food allergies like us!? America is so abundantly blessed that we have managed to turn God’s blessing of abundance into a curse.
Given our tendency to idolatry, to obsess over ourselves, is it any wonder that we think we are allergic to the most basic ingredients: flour, milk, sugar, eggs…
Picking and fussing our way through the goodness of the earth, food becomes nothing more than nutritional value or a calorie to be counted. To look at food, God given in all its diversity of taste and texture and turn that blessing into a burden to be endured is to become an idolater, spiritualizing away what should be loved. It is thanklessness.
We have left off with thanking God and dining gratefully, and have given license to our propensity to obsess about ourself. Didn’t that bit of sugar, flour or milk make me the slightest bit queasy? Making sure everyone knows just how special we are with our special, limited diet, we forget to drink in the goodness from God’s generous abundance. We have taken this gift of taste and variety from God’s hand and said, “NO.”
We need to thank God for the fat of the land and dine gratefully without excuse.
My disclaimer
Obviously there are people who if they eat a peanut or some other food will seriously end up in anaphylactic shock. There are some who have diabetes or other serious illnesses who really do need to watch carefully what they eat. I am not talking about that. I am talking about the psuedo-allergy thing which belittles the people who really do have food allergies and really can’t eat certain foods. This psuedo-allergy thing tries to make itself look as dire as a real allergy, a real illness. It is not. It is obsessive thanklessness.
So on your feast days, eat for heaven’s sake! And when you are sad and mourning, fast. Between times, eat a little of what you love… And in everything give thanks. Your allergies just might evaporate into thin air. Wouldn’t that be terrific!?
“Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.” Genesis 45:18
Yep, Peeps and chocolate bunnies for breakfast!
Our feeding frenzy before Christmas Eve service having just caroled our way through the neighborhood
Looks like a totally fake backdrop but it's real! Hostetter's ranch.
Very well said. I have too often gorged myself when I am sad and depressed and have come away even more sad and depressed. Substituting food for God will always leave a person feeling empty-but with a bulging stomach!
Feasting is indeed intended for times of rejoicing and the food somehow tastes that much better.
I’m gradually learning the lesson that my sisters seemed to know from childhoood.
Also, thanks for your disclaimer. There are genuine food allergies out there, but the use of “food allergies” has become way too overused as an excuse… like every other label in our society.
diet foods that are nutritious would be the best for our bodies, most diet foods are not very nutritious *’~