Scott W.

Downs Professor Shari Sowards POLS 1100 Section #007 1 May, 2014 Religion and Food It is not a pleasant discovery to arrive to a seminar when the food is nearly gone! Fortunately I attended this symposium to discover dietary similarities and differences of the religious faiths that had elected to present to the student at our College. Dr. Ravi Gupta, Dr. Muriel H. Schmid and Ilana Schwartzman all offered insights into the traditions of their beliefs and how they unify their followers. On behalf of the Hindu faith Dr. Gupta taught us that the ritual of sacrifice is a method of expressing gratitude for provision of sustaining needs from Deity. He added that in many contexts our foods can afford us a variety of ways to express a political statement, from volume of consumption, treatment of Brahmans creations, to the inefficient use of resources available to humanity. Dr. Schmid represented the Catholic faith and explained her position on vegetarianism. She cited a United Nations report from 2006 which found that animals reared for meat consumption are one-sixteenth as efficient as the vegetarian alternative. In harmony with Dr. Gupta, Dr. Schmid associated the ethical treatment of animals with paying tribute to God for providing for the most essential of needs. To remind those in attendance of the gluttony of American tradition, she added that 51% of the food consumed worldwide takes place here. To

Downs 2 carry home this point, she added that 30% of that same food becomes waste in myriad ways, denying millions of Gods children this sustaining need. Finally we were privileged to hear from Rabbi Schwartzman. She shared that there is a very distinct protocol when preparing kosher meats. They have separate plates, Tupperware and cutting-boards to prevent cross-contamination. The Rabbi provided an example of the symbol, a hechscher, which denotes that a meat has met these criteria and complies with Gods law. In compliment with the Hindu and Catholic faiths, Jewish followers believe that animals should suffer in the least amount possible. The recurring notion of efficient and ethical treatment of the resources available to us was to me the most consistent dietary precept shared by these faiths and lends itself to reason as a virtuous perspective to adopt.