Food and religion have always been intimately connected. What one eats or doesn’t eat, how food is eaten and with whom, feasting and fasting…all are or have been markers of religious community. But what specifically has it meant when Christians ask for “our daily bread”? In this lecture, Sharon Sheffield will lead a guided tour of the high points of Western Christianity’s impact on food, with brief excursions into food customs, folklore, and fasting as an expression of faith.

Come hear how beer fasts, soul cakes, sin eaters and the Great Leavened/Unleavened Bread Debate are all part of how faith shaped the way some people look at food – and how they still have currency today.

About the speaker:
The Rev. Sharon Sheffield is associate priest and school chaplain at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and School in Downey. Sharon holds degrees in divinity, linguistics, and anthropology, with an emphasis on how myth and folktale shape society and vice versa. In her free time, Sharon enjoys music, drama, and historical reenactment to help people learn about odd bits of religious and social history.