Magazine Web Exclusive: Food and God’s Grandeur
It may sound lofty and pretentious to describe food as worship. But all I know is that when I took my first bite of chicory rubbed filet mignon in bordelaise sauce on a Sunday afternoon in 2010, it felt like tasting a little bit of heaven. It felt like the pleasure of God.
That filet mignon was one course of a 10-course dinner prepared by my friend Jessica, who does things with food that I’ve never seen done before. And this meal — in which each course was creatively inspired by one of Jessica’s favorite songs of the year — was unsurpassed in the pantheon of great meals I’ve ever had.
At this meal, which probably lasted six hours or more, me and seven friends enjoyed mind-blowing homemade delicacies: Quail confit with poached kumquats, tempura basil and sage, blue cheese ice cream with maderia poached fig and wildflower sage honey, and a strawberry rose milkshake with rose laced cream.
How could you not experience God through food like that? Sitting in good company, enjoying never-tasted-before flavor combinations, anxiously awaiting the next carefully concocted course and never getting full? (The courses were all nearly bite-sized).
Such instances remind us of God’s glory and grace. They are opportunities to give thanks and praise to God: for friends, for nourishment, for creativity, and for the fact that God gave us tongues to taste and not just stomachs to fill.
Brett McCracken
Brett McCracken is a Los Angeles-based writer and journalist. A graduate of Wheaton College and UCLA (Cinema and Media Studies), Brett currently works as managing editor for Biola University's Biola Magazine and is pursuing a Master's in Theology at Talbot School of Theology. He also regularly writes movie reviews and features forChristianity Today, as well as contributing frequently to Relevantmagazine. He comments on movies, media, and popular culture issues at his blog, http://stillsearching.wordpress.com/">The Search. He is the author of Hipster Christianity: When Church and Cool Collide and Gray Matters: Navigating the Space between Legalism and Liberty.
