Food and Religions
religious dietary precepts as a means of identity definition
Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to analyze religious food prescriptions and avoidances, to show, through a cross-cultural and comparative approach, the inner reason underlying such a wide range of different biases and rules sedimented through millennia of religious practices. Since food also transmits meanings, any food performs a semiotic power and shows how religious identities are embedded in everyday life. As a result, "we are what we eat," not only organically but in terms of beliefs and representations. For these reasons, food often functions as an identity marker that traces invisible borders between an in-group of people sharing the same religious identity or background, and an out-group of people with different identities. Therefore, in acquiring personal or social identity inside a larger community, food plays a relevant part in linking cultivation, culture, and worship, which is why this project highlights the relationship between religious food prescriptions and identity. People connect to their religious group through food patterns, and religious rules concerning food are often used to retain cultic and cultural identity.
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References
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Heston, A. (1971). An Approach to the Sacred Cow of India. Current Anthropology, 12(2): 191–209.
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Kracauer, S. (1995). The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays. Cam-bridge (MS) / Londra: Harvard University press.
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Liverani, M. (2011). Antico Oriente: Storia, Società Economia. Bari: Laterza.
Maccoby, H. (1982). Cain and Abel. European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe, 16(1): 25–27.
Marrone, G. (2016). Semiotica del gusto: Linguaggi della cucina, del cibo, della tavola. Milano - Udine: Mimesis.
Mintz, S. W.; Du Bois, C. M. (2002). The Anthropology of Food and Eating. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31: 99–119.
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Palmié, S. (2009). Intangible Cultural Property, Semiotic Ideology, and the Vagaries of Ethnoculinary Recognition. African Arts, 42(4): 54–61.
Pandey, J.; Poortinga, Y. H.; Berry, J. W. (1997). Handbook of cross-cultural psychology 1: Theory and method. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Pelissero, A. (2014). Assiologia dell’alimentazione nell’hinduismo. Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica, 22(4): 67–80.
Peterson, J. B. (2007). A Psycho-ontological Analysis of Genesis 2-6. Archiv Für Religionspsychologie / Archive for the Psychology of Re-ligion, 29(1): 87–125.
Pettinato, G. (2001). Mitologia Sumerica. Torino: UTET.
Remke, K. (2019). The saddest beast? Notes on the pig in Arabic cul-ture. Quaderni di Studi Arabi, Nuova Serie (14): 243-261.
Scopel, L. (2016). Le prescrizioni alimentari di carattere religioso. Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste.
Shakespeare, W. (1994), Macbeth. In W. Shakespeare, The complete works, compact edition, S. Wells; Gary Taylor (Ed.). Oxford: Claren-don Press, 975–999.
Shaw, T. A. (1994). The Semiotic Mediation of Identity. Ethos, 22(1): 83–119.
Shrimali, K. M. (2017). The Formation of Religious Identities in India. Social Scientist, 45(5/6): 3–27.
Simoons, F. J. (1994), Eat not this flesh: Food Avoidances from Pre-history to the Present. Madison (WI): The University of Wisconsin Press.
Simoons, F. J. (1994). Eat Not this Flesh: Food avoidances from Pre-history to the Present. Madison (WI) - Londra: The University of Wis-consin Press.
Soler, J. (1973). Sémiotique de la nourriture dans la Bible. Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations, 28(4): 943–955.
Turner, J. C. (1985). Social Categorization and the Self-Concept: A Social Cognitive Theory of Group Behavior. In Lawler, E. (Ed.), Ad-vances in Group Processes. Greenwich: JAI Press, 1985, 77–121.
Von Rad, G. (1978). Genesi: traduzione e commento. Brescia: Paideia.
Al-Tabari (1999). Tafsîr Al-Tabarî (13 voll.). Beirut: Dar Al-Kutub Al-'Ilmiyya.
Al-Tahtawi Rifa’a, R. (2011). An Imam in Paris: Account of a Stay in France by an Egyptian Cleric (1826-1831). Londra: Saqi Books.
Angelini, M. (2017). Ecologia della parola. Il sale, gli occhi, le stelle, l’aratro, il dono … conversazioni per un altro modo di guardare la realtà. Savona: Pentagora.
Appadurai, A. (1981). Gastro-Politics in Hindu South Asia. American Ethnologist, 8(3): 494–511.
Appiah, K. A. (2019). La menzogna dell’identità: come riconoscere le false verità che ci dividono in tribù. Milano: Feltrinelli.
Ascanio, L. (2010). Le regole alimentari nel diritto musulmano, in A. Chizzoniti e M. Tallachini (Ed.) Cibo e religione: diritto e diritti. Trica-se (LE): Libellula Edizioni.
Barlösius, E. (1999). Soziologie des Essens. Eine sozial und kultur-wissenschaftliche Einführung in die Ernährungsforschung. Wein-heim/München: Juventa.
Bauman, Z. (2003). Intervista sull’identità. Laterza: Bari.
Bausani, A. (1999). L’Islam. Milano: Garzanti.
Brewer, M. B.; Gardner, W. (1996) Who is this "we"? Levels of collec-tive identity and self-representations. Journal of Personality and So-cial Psychology, 71: 83–93.
Brisebarre A. (1988). La fête du Mouton : un Sacrifice Musulman dans l’Espace Urbain. Parigi: Èd. CNRS.
Brown K. M. (1995). Surviving the spirits: the ritual economy of Hai-tian Vodou. In Cossentino D.J. Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. Los An-geles: UCLA Fowler Mus. Cult. Hist., 205–223
Buitelaar M. (1993). Fasting and Feasting in Morocco: Women’s participation in Ramadan; https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/113158/mmubn000001_492421781.pdf (Ultimo accesso: 6 ottobre 2022).
Crownfield, D. (1973). The Curse of Abel: An Essay in Biblical Ecolo-gy. The North American Review, 258(2): 58–63.
De Gregorio, L. (2010). Alimentazione e religione: la prospettiva cri-stiano-cattolica. Il Diritto Ecclesiastico, 121(1/2): 151–163.
Depping, G. B. (1826), Aperçu historique sur les mœurs et coutumes des nations par G.B. Depping, terminé par une bibliographie. Parigi: Bureau de l'Encyclopédie portative / Bachelier-
Diogene, Laerzio (1962). Vite dei filosofi. Tr. t. Marcello Gigante. Ba-ri: Laterza, 1962.
Douglas, M. (1966). Purity and Danger. Londra / New York: Routlege.
Erodoto (2001). Storie Libri 1.-2: Lidi, Persiani, Egizi. Tr. It. Barberis F. Milano: Garzanti
Fabre-Vassas, C. (1994). La bête singulière: les juifs, les chrétiens et le cochon. Parigi: Gallimard.
Fessler, D. M. T.; Navarrete C. D. (2003). Meat Is Good to Taboo: Di-etary Proscriptions as a Product of the Interaction of Psychological Mechanisms and Social Processes. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 3 (1): 1–40.
Francavilla, D. (2014). Vacche sacre e pluralismo costituzionale in In-dia. Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica, 22(4): 163–176.
Francesca, E. (1995). Introduzione alle regole alimentari islamiche. Roma: Istituto per l’oriente C.A. Nallino.
Greene, E. M. (2016). A Reassessment of the Early History of Chinese Buddhist Vegetarianism. Asia Major, 29(1): 1–43.
Guha, D. S. (1985). Food in the Vedic Tradition. India International Centre Quarterly, 12(2): 141–152.
Harris, M. (2015). Buono da mangiare: enigmi del gusto e consuetu-dini alimentari. Torino: Einaudi.
Heston, A. (1971). An Approach to the Sacred Cow of India. Current Anthropology, 12(2): 191–209.
Ibn, Baṭṭūṭa (2006). I Viaggi, Tr. It. C. M. Tresso. Einaudi: Torino.
Kracauer, S. (1995). The Mass Ornament: Weimar Essays. Cam-bridge (MS) / Londra: Harvard University press.
Leach, E. (1976). Culture and Communication: The Logic by which Symbols Are Connected. An Introduction to the Use of Structuralist Analysis in Social Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lévi-Strauss, C. (2010). Le origini delle buone maniere a tavola [1968]. Tr. It. E. Lucarelli. Milano: Il Saggiatore.
Liverani, M. (2011). Antico Oriente: Storia, Società Economia. Bari: Laterza.
Maccoby, H. (1982). Cain and Abel. European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe, 16(1): 25–27.
Marrone, G. (2016). Semiotica del gusto: Linguaggi della cucina, del cibo, della tavola. Milano - Udine: Mimesis.
Mintz, S. W.; Du Bois, C. M. (2002). The Anthropology of Food and Eating. Annual Review of Anthropology, 31: 99–119.
Niola, M. (2016), Così Feuerbach inventò il motto “L’uomo è ciò che mangia”. La Repubblica, 23 agosto 2016; https://www.marinoniola.it/2016/08/30/cosi-feuerbach-invento-il-motto-luomo-e-cio-che-mangia-la-repubblica/ (Ultimo accesso: 20 settembre 2022).
Ochs, C. (1976). Nomad and Settler in Patriarchal Religion. Feminist Studies, 3(3/4): 56–61.
Palmié, S. (2009). Intangible Cultural Property, Semiotic Ideology, and the Vagaries of Ethnoculinary Recognition. African Arts, 42(4): 54–61.
Pandey, J.; Poortinga, Y. H.; Berry, J. W. (1997). Handbook of cross-cultural psychology 1: Theory and method. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Pelissero, A. (2014). Assiologia dell’alimentazione nell’hinduismo. Quaderni di Diritto e Politica Ecclesiastica, 22(4): 67–80.
Peterson, J. B. (2007). A Psycho-ontological Analysis of Genesis 2-6. Archiv Für Religionspsychologie / Archive for the Psychology of Re-ligion, 29(1): 87–125.
Pettinato, G. (2001). Mitologia Sumerica. Torino: UTET.
Remke, K. (2019). The saddest beast? Notes on the pig in Arabic cul-ture. Quaderni di Studi Arabi, Nuova Serie (14): 243-261.
Scopel, L. (2016). Le prescrizioni alimentari di carattere religioso. Trieste: Edizioni Università di Trieste.
Shakespeare, W. (1994), Macbeth. In W. Shakespeare, The complete works, compact edition, S. Wells; Gary Taylor (Ed.). Oxford: Claren-don Press, 975–999.
Shaw, T. A. (1994). The Semiotic Mediation of Identity. Ethos, 22(1): 83–119.
Shrimali, K. M. (2017). The Formation of Religious Identities in India. Social Scientist, 45(5/6): 3–27.
Simoons, F. J. (1994), Eat not this flesh: Food Avoidances from Pre-history to the Present. Madison (WI): The University of Wisconsin Press.
Simoons, F. J. (1994). Eat Not this Flesh: Food avoidances from Pre-history to the Present. Madison (WI) - Londra: The University of Wis-consin Press.
Soler, J. (1973). Sémiotique de la nourriture dans la Bible. Annales. Economies, sociétés, civilisations, 28(4): 943–955.
Turner, J. C. (1985). Social Categorization and the Self-Concept: A Social Cognitive Theory of Group Behavior. In Lawler, E. (Ed.), Ad-vances in Group Processes. Greenwich: JAI Press, 1985, 77–121.
Von Rad, G. (1978). Genesi: traduzione e commento. Brescia: Paideia.
Published
2024-01-10
How to Cite
Marasca, C. (2024). Food and Religions. Critical Hermeneutics, 7(2, special), 259-284. https://doi.org/10.13125/CH/5415
Section
Varia
Copyright (c) 2024 Cristiano Marasca
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