Food

Everyone eats.

Our relationship with food is as simple — and as complex — as that. Every living thing is dependent on nutrition, which makes food an incredibly valuable resource. And how we get it, who gets enough of it, and the choices we make around it become critical social justice issues.

For people of faith, food has incredible symbolic meanings. It is the stuff of miracles, of punishment, a symbol of welcome and the generosity of the Creator. For Christians, reenacting the Last Supper is one of our most sacred rituals of our faith.

The Council’s work around food touches all of program areas – from Care of Creation and personal health, to immigration, farmworkers and peace. Because in a world where everyone has enough, many of the problems associated with excess and waste, deprivation and destabilization end up being diminished.

The Council’s food curriculum, Eating Well for Ourselves, Our Neighbors and Our Planet, is one resource for people of faith interested in exploring the topic. Additional information about food from a faithful perspective can be found on our Partners In Health and Wholeness website, and in the Sacred Foodscapes Program of North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light. Facts about the farmworkers who grow much of our food even as many of them go hungry can be found on the Farmworker Ministry Committee site. And the annual Come to the Table Conference, cosponsored by the Council and held at multiple sites statewide, brings together members of the faith community with farmers, gardeners, farm workers, educators, health professionals and community organizations to find ways to relieve hunger and support local agriculture.

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