Eating More Naturally, Locally and Faithfully

By Flowers Umble and Amy Flowers Umble

Jesus was a locavore.

And the Israelites were, too--save that 40-year experiment with manna.

But as many consider the new movement to eat organic, local foods as a recent, elitist movement, theologians cite Scriptures as evidence the food trend has been around a while.

And believers should jump on the bandwagon, said Norman Wirzba, professor of theology, ecology and rural life at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina.

"Issues like this are central to what religion is about," he said.

Across the country, many are connecting food with faith. Religious groups call for fair wages for laborers, clergy demand food industry reforms and bloggers connect Bible verses with healthy eating practices.

The Rev. Deborah Stuhlman, a Stafford County minister, discovered a deeper connection between religion and food during a health scare a few years ago.

Stuhlman had eschewed fast food, favored vegetables and used natural ingredients. Visiting doctors, she heard a continuing complaint: Other people wanted to eat healthy but couldn't find time to cook from scratch.

So Stuhlman started a company, offering mixes for soups, breads, cookies and more. She uses mostly organic, natural ingredients.

"God gave us foods that are natural, without additives, chemicals and preservatives," she said. "Why not just leave it the way God made it?"

In her basement near Stafford Courthouse, she mixes organic flours and natural sweeteners into sugar cookie bases, beans and seasonings into soup mixes and gluten-free flours into the genesis of bread.

She named her company Restorative Foods, based on the idea that healthy food restores both body and soul. Stuhlman--who leads a revival ministry--sells the combinations at area farmers' markets and home-based parties.

She considers her natural foods spiritually based but offers a religious boost to interested customers in the form of a pamphlet called "This New Life."

The mixes run $6 to $9, a little bit more than the typical Betty Crocker muffin mix.

And that, critics say, is the problem with natural foods.

They cost more. And they're harder to prepare.

But a life of faith isn't a life of convenience, Wirzba argues.

Eating locally and naturally saves the planet, the exploited farm laborer and the soul, he said.

"Cheap food is hurting our land, it's hurting our animals and it's hurting our diets," the professor said. "There's a lot of injustice in our food system. Should Christians support injustice so they can have cheap food?"

Some argue the church should care more about feeding the poor than organic foods.

Wirzba said the church can do both. In Durham, a group of Duke Divinity School grads created a community garden, which provides fresh, organic food for $5 a month plus a few hours of labor.

Churches across the country have also embraced community gardens as a way to get fresh food to the poor.

And the tilling, weeding and picking have other benefits, Wirzba said. Gardens teach all sorts of spiritual lessons, such as the fragility of life, the joy of creation and the need for hard work.

"What you experience in a garden is God's love for creation made concrete and tasty," he said.

The bottom line, he said, is that Christians need to think more about where their food comes from, who grows it and how it affects their bodies.

"It all starts with Genesis, where God says, 'Take care of the garden,' and taking care of the garden will have a lot to do with how we eat," Wirzba said. "It's going to mean higher prices for food, and it's going to mean that Christians need to share food more But it's not about convenience, it's about learning to develop an affection for what matters. And food matters."