Have there been explanations offered for why Christianity is so food centric?

Have there been explanations offered for why Christianity is so food centric?

Food is important to human life!

Man by his very nature needs food and drink (water) in order to sustain himself in life. Without nourishment a person would die. From the very beginning man has been offering food stuffs to the Lord as a form of prayer either in thanksgiving or in supplication.

Exodus shows us how God, through Moses, imposed the Passover onto the Jewish people. It is explicitly asked that if the meal is too big for a family to consume then they are to invite another to join them with the Passover meal. This brings me to an important point.

Man is a social being and needs the companionship of other individuals in order to maintain a health lifestyle. God knows this all too well when the Passover was instituted. Read the Jewish Ritual of how the Passover meal is done and you will understand.

In the New Testament, Our Lord instituted the Eucharist as the means of union of man with God. Thus man’s nutrition became both natural and Divine for those those who believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Some Christians believe this is only symbolic which for the sake of this post is fine.

Today many churches gather round the table of the Lord to celebrate the Eucharist in a group setting of believers. Man is a social being striving towards union with God with the help of God and others for support.

We see Abraham offering bread to his three mysterious visitors. Food is ever so important in the life a of mankind.

Partaking a meal (food) together symbolizes unity and friendship in this life, especially in the realm of beliefs, even if abuses crept in.

This brings me to another point that is brought up in the New Testament. It concerns the agape feast which was a communal meal shared amongst the Early Church Christians. Abuses in it lead to severe criticism by some, even though the basic idea for Christians to share a common meal has some profound religious meaning and tradition.

An agape feast or lovefeast (also spelled love feast or love-feast, sometimes capitalized) is a communal meal shared among Christians. The name comes from agape, a Greek term for 'love' in its broadest sense.

The lovefeast originated in the early Church and was a time of fellowship for believers. The Eucharist was often a part of the lovefeast, although at some point (probably between the latter part of the 1st century AD and 250 AD), the two became separate. Thus, in modern times the Lovefeast refers to a Christian ritual meal distinct from the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. The lovefeast seeks to strengthen the bonds and the spirit of harmony, goodwill, and congeniality, as well as to forgive past disputes and instead love one another.

The practice of the lovefeast is mentioned in Jude 1:12 of the Christian Bible and was a "common meal of the early church".[9] References to communal meals are discerned in 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, in Saint Ignatius of Antioch's Letter to the Smyrnaeans, where the term agape is used, and in a letter from Pliny the Younger to Trajan, (ca. 111 A.D.) in which he reported that the Christians, after having met "on a stated day" in the early morning to "address a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity", later in the day would "reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal". Similar communal meals are attested also in the Egyptian Church Order often identified as the Apostolic Tradition attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, who does not use the term agape, and in works of Tertullian, who does. The connection between such substantial meals and the Eucharist had virtually ceased by the time of Cyprian (died 258), when the Eucharist was celebrated with fasting in the morning and the agape in the evening. The Synod of Gangra in 340 makes mention of lovefeasts in relation to a heretic who had barred his followers from attending them.

Though still mentioned in the Quinisext Council of 692, the agape fell into disuse soon after, except among the churches in Ethiopia and India. At the end of the 18th century the Carmelite friar Paolino da San Bartolomeo reported that the ancient Saint Thomas Christians of India still celebrated the lovefeast, using their typical dish called appam. In addition, Radical Pietist groups originating in the eighteenth-century, such as the Schwarzenau Brethren and the Moravian Church, celebrate the lovefeast. Methodist churches also continue the practice. - Agape feast

The idea that Christianity is somewhat food centric is completely normal as we share our life sustaining foods together in unity, such as in the family unit! This is in a sense the most basic level of things Christians can be gathered together to enjoy!

There is one more point I would like to mention before ending. Some cultural and historical events have put into place some local traditions that amplify this food centric desire amongst Christians in one way or another. Allow me to give a small example, as many can be found:

St. Lucy is the patron saint of the city of Syracuse (Sicily). On 13 December a silver statue of St. Lucy containing her relics is paraded through the streets before returning to the Cathedral of Syracuse. Sicilians recall a legend that holds that a famine ended on her feast day when ships loaded with grain entered the harbor. Here, it is traditional to eat whole grains instead of bread on 13 December. This usually takes the form of cuccìa. a dish of boiled wheat berries often mixed with ricotta and honey, or sometimes served as a savory soup with beans. - St. Lucy

The following may be of interest to some:

• List of foods with religious symbolism

• Catholic Recipes for the Liturgical Year