Food, Religion and Culture or Doing Business with Religious People

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Food, Religion and CultureorDoing Business with
Religious People

• Michel Desjardins
• Department of Religion Culture

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• On tap today
• Intro why we should be paying attention to
  religion
• One way to pay attention Examining the links
  between religion and food
• a. Religions of Middle Eastern descent
• Business implications?
• b. Religions of Indian descent
• Business implications?

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• Why we should be paying attention to religion
• ? Religion matters to the HUGE majority of
  people around the world, for whom the world
  includes both spiritual and non-spiritual
  dimensions
• ? For most people, their religious affiliation
  is expressed in both private and public ways
  it is a way of life

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• Middle Eastern Religions
• Christianity 2.1 billion
• R. Catholic 1.1 billion
• Islam 1.3 billion
• Judaism 14 million
• Baháí 6 million

• World Pop 6.7 billion
• Over 1/3 in ?
• China 1.3 billion
• India 1.1 billion
• The Big 4 Religions
• Christianity
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Buddhism

• Indian Religions
• Hinduism 900 million
• Jainism 6 million
• Buddhism 400 million
• Sikhism 25 million

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Islam The Religion to Watch Comparative Chart of
Muslims Christians
 

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• Largest Muslim Populations in the World
• Indonesia 182,570,000 Canada
• Pakistan 134,480,000 now 800,000
• India 121,000,000 2001 600,000
• Bangladesh 114,080,000 1991 250,000
• Turkey 65,510,000 1981 98,000
• Iran 62,430,000 1971 33,000
• Egypt 58,630,000
• Nigeria 53,000,000
• Algeria 30,530,000
• Morocco 28,780,000

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• 2. The Links between Religion and Food
• ? Why does food matter in peoples religious
  lives?
• ? How does food relate to culture?

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• a. Middle Eastern Religions and Food
• Judaism
• Christianity
• Islam

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JUDAISM

• Kosher (food laws dictated by the Jewish Bible)
• Sabbath (Day of Rest, begins sunset Friday)
• Feasting and Fasting, esp. Passover Dinner
• Charity, directed mainly to people in Israel
• Key issue 1 pork avoidance
• Key issue 2 enormous variety of ways of
  being Jewish
• Key issue 3 Kosher is now Big Business

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• Basic Jewish dietary restrictions (kosher)
• Only cud-chewing, split-hooved animals allowed as
  food (no pork, camel, rabbit, etc.)
• No water creatures without fins and scales (e.g.,
  shellfish, eel forbidden)
• No four-legged insects, except locusts
• No birds or animals that prey on others
• Warm-blooded animals must be ritually
  slaughtered, and their blood completely drained
• Added later
• 6. Meat and milk must be kept apart in meals, in
  both time and spacee.g., no cheeseburgers

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• Kosher food is now big business
• ? Kosher certification around the world
• e.g., Kashruth Council of Canada
  http//www.cor.ca/en/2
• ? Companies acquiring kosher certification
  kosher seen as healthier food by some non-Jews
• ? The travel industry now catering to this
  kosher hotel packages (e.g., 2001 Passover
  50,000 kosher hotel rooms booked worldwide)

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• Kosher (fit) food concerns Jews to different
  degrees e.g., Shalom Auslander, Foreskins
  Lament (2007), reflecting on growing up as an
  Orthodox Jew in New York
• Hot dogs were the deep end of the non-kosher
  pool I was trying to avoid God loathing me
  completely in this world, and hoped if I started
  at the shallow end, with a Slim Jim a dry meat
  snack popular in America, He might just vaguely
  dislike me, or generally prefer the company of
  others.

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• Passover, usually in April the Jewish calendar
  is lunar, so dates do not correspond to the solar
  calendar

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CHRISTIANITY

• Communion / Eucharist / Lords Supper
• Food charity
• Some fasting, esp. among Orthodox Christians
• Foods for special days, e.g., fish, pork, chicken
• Generally no food restrictions, but some
  exceptions
• ? Seventh-Day Adventists (Ellen G. White, 1860s)
• John Harvey Kellogg Will Keith Kellogg (1894)

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ISLAM

• Halal (Quran 2163-185)
• No alcohol
• Ramadan Fasting month (28/29 days)
• Food Charity esp. during and after two key
  festivals Eid ul-Fitr (after Ramadan)
  Eid ul-Adha (after the pilgrimage month)
• Key issue 1 pork avoidance
• Key issue 2 Ramadan
• Key issue 3 Halal will soon be Big Business

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• At a restaurant I tend to eat vegetarian, or
  have fish. . . . There are always vegetarian and
  fish options . . . . When we went on a cruise for
  our honeymoon there were a lot of options, so it
  was not a problem.
• Fasting increases my sensitivity toward poor
  people, toward those who do not have much to eat
  on a regular basis. During this period, a great
  deal of food is given out as part of the charity
  expected of all Muslims. Muslims donate food and
  money to local organizations, some to be
  distributed locally, some to be sent abroad to
  relieve suffering there. Sometimes money is sent
  back to the home country during this period.

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• You are what you eat. We believe that strongly.
  If you eat something that is not halal the effect
  of it stays with you for 40 days, and often your
  prayers are not accepted during that period. So
  its effect is with you for a long time. Eating
  the right food is a big deal.
• Eating a lot of haram non-halal, or non-fit
  food, our prayers might not be accepted at all.
  When we pray to God and wonder why they are not
  accepted, often that might be the reason that
  weve been eating the wrong food, so were not
  clean.

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• Middle Eastern / Western Religions and Food
• The heart of the matter
• CASE 1 Rennet in Cheese, and Pine River Cheese
  Co., near Kincardine, Ontario
• Cheese is made by coagulating milk to give curds
  which are then separated from the liquid, or
  whey. Milk is coagulated by the addition of
  rennet. The active ingredient of rennet is the
  enzyme, chymosin. The usual source of rennet is
  the stomach of slaughtered newly-born calves.
  Vegetarian cheeses are manufactured using rennet
  from either fungal or bacterial sources, and,
  more recently, by using genetically-engineered
  chymosin.

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• CASE 2 To serve or not to serve pork, and
  alcohol, at celebratory gatherings
• YES ? importance of pork in Christian traditions
• a drink a common symbol for
  relaxation and religious celebration among
  Jews and Christians
• NO ? the presence of pork results in a visceral
  negative response from most Muslims and
  many Jews
• many (not all) Muslims (and some
  Christians) feel forced to leave the room
  when alcohol is present

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• b. Indian Religions
• and Food
• Hinduism
• Buddhism

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HINDUISM

• Food transforms it has intrinsic properties that
  enter us, e.g. Yoga sattvic, rajasic, tamasic
• ? vegetarian food is the ideal
• Food can be transformed by the gods by cooks
• Cow products purify butter milk, but NOT meat
• The gods enjoy eating
• Fasting is common, and spiritually beneficial
• Indian temples are big (food) business
• ? charity divine blessings
• Food restrictions beef and pork for some meat

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BUDDHISM

• Food offerings, to the Buddha, to ancestors, to
  monks (to gain merit in this world)
• Vegetarian ideal, as an act of compassion
  esp. China and India, but not so much in
  Southeast Asia (e.g. Vietnam, Laos, Thailand)
• Fasting is not common, but some monks avoid
  eating after noon some people in several SE
  Asian countries abstain from meat in July, August
  and September ( slow business time)
• Eating as an act of mindfulness

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• Mindfulness
• To Buddhist practitioners, eating is also
  meditation its not just eating. When we go to a
  retreat, before we eat, we remind ourselves that
  we are not eating this food out of greed. We have
  to meditate before we eat we reflect on our own
  virtues, and we discover that we have greed, we
  have anger, and we have ignorance. Then we remind
  ourselves that the reason we are taking this food
  is to keep ourselves healthy. Then we have to
  remember, when we eat, that we dont take too
  much food that is not necessary. Its not good
  for our health, and for the provider. Then we eat
  very mindfully. The whole eating process is
  meditation (local informant)

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• ADDENDUM CHINESE RELIGIONS IN GENERAL
• The majority of Chinese, esp. the young people in
  cities, are no longer deeply religious
• Pragmatism rules in general, whatever works
  (religious or not) is what gets used
• BUT a complex mix of religious traditions still
  informs much of Chinese culture, including belief
  in the existence of spirits
• Ancestors are venerated, and their spirits are
  thought to play an ongoing part in the world
• In Chinese culture, where over half the
  population has strong links to Buddhism,
  meat-eating predominates and pork is widely eaten

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• Food and Religions of Indian Extraction
• The heart of the matter
• CASE 1 Youre thinking of inviting a group of
  people to a business lunch here in KW. Some of
  these people, you think, are of Indian
  extraction others look oriental, but youre
  not sure of their family roots, whether theyre
  religious, etc. What factors would you consider
  in selecting a restaurant?
• CASE 2 What do you need to keep in mind when
  doing business with Buddhists?

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• So what?
• What do you find most important about the
  intersection of religion, food, and business?