Catholics in the Kitchen

"Know that even when you are in the kitchen, God moves amidst the pots and pans.” —St. Teresa of Avila

For over two thousand years, Catholics have been at the heart of the culinary arts. Perhaps this should come as no surprise considering the sacred feast of the Eucharist gives life to our faith. From this foretaste of the heavenly banquet, we return to our domestic churches to gather around the dinner table, where families share joy, laughter, and love.

Yet as with so many other arenas of life, our relationship with food has become compromised, cheapened, unhealthy, and robbed of its wholesomeness and purpose. As we slip more and more into moral poverty, we lose the sacramental nature of eating and the sense of community that comes from a good meal.

The individuals featured in this work have spent a lifetime trying to turn back the tide of this downward spiral. They are farmers, ranchers, chefs, cooks, professors, authors, moms, dads, grandparents, priests. They have appeared on the Food Network, EWTN, and the Catholic Faith Network. They come from different regions—from Colorado to rural Virginia to the Louisiana Bayou—and from difficult cultures—Latino, Polish, Lebanese, Italian, Irish.

It is a wide pallet of humanity. And yet, the one ingredient found in all of them is the Catholic faith. Their faith journeys are as myriad as their backgrounds and favorite dishes, but each of them call Holy Mother Church home.

This cookbook shares an eclectic assortment of dishes, from Chicken Creole to Oyster Gumbo, from Fizzy Tea to Resurrection Rolls, from Butternut Squash Soup to Polish Cream Cake, and more. But it also shares stories of faith from ordinary people striving for heaven. Readers, then, will find in this collection nourishment for their bodies and their souls.