It is easy to romanticize the community-building power of the dinner table, but commensality, or the process of eating together, can also be used to maintain boundaries of difference. In my research, I sought to understand how a dinner church harnesses the positive power of commensality through the potentially divisive ritual of the Eucharist. I was particularly interested in the idea of comfort, and how feelings of comfort or discomfort affect church members involvement in and understanding of church.
Read MoreThis semester, I am taking a class called the History of Food. By reading recipes and records of feasts from various historical periods, we are cooking our way through the centuries to examine the evolution of taste.
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