Panel: SACRED FOOD, SOCIAL HIERARCHIES. RELIGION, DIET, AND (IN)EQUALITY ACROSS TIME AND SPACE



470.1 - INTERSECTING FOOD AND RELIGIONS: TRANSDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO CRITICAL FOOD STUDIES AND FOOD THEOLOGIES

AUTHORS:
Méndez-Montoya Á. (Universidad Iberoamericana ~ Mexico City ~ Mexico)
Text:
This presentation explores the intersection between "critical food studies" and "food theologies," examining how transdisciplinary approaches illustrate relationships between food phenomena, religious beliefs, imaginaries, and spiritual practices. Engaging critical theory and theological inquiry, this work proposes methodological frameworks resisting dichotomies between material and spiritual, emphasizing porous boundaries where food practices become sites of embodied knowledge and transformative praxis. Critical food studies examines material and symbolic practices related to eating through transdisciplinary methods that integrate Global South perspectives, particularly Latin American epistemologies, acknowledging Mesoamerican worldviews that were eclipsed by colonization. Food theology refuses to dichotomize spiritual from material, addressing interstices where corporeal and cognitive, sacred and mundane, mutually implicate each other. Methodologically, this approach employs nomadic, experimental frameworks integrating: (1) everyday life as epistemic site; (2) embodied cognition and "flavor epistemologies"; (3) hunger, desire, and food/drink; and (4) methodological nomadisms embracing transformation through diverse food traditions and spiritual practices. This work addresses food ethics, commensality, and cultural diversity, seeking "vivir sabroso"—flavorful living encompassing dignity, justice, and ecological harmony. These proposals integrate spirituality committed to care ethics, contributing to more just, sustainable, and flavorful futures.