Lutherans Address the Global Food Crisis in Cookbook

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans have produced a cookbook --
"Food for Life: Recipes and Stories on the Right to Food" --
that calls attention to the global food crisis. Containing more
than 100 recipes from around the world, the cookbook features
stories, photographs and table blessings illustrating how
Lutherans take part in food production, addressing issues of food
scarcity, sharing culturally nutritious dishes and more.
"As Lutherans in North America, we cannot live without our
cookbooks," said the Rev. Teresita "Tita" C. Valeriano, North
American regional officer, Lutheran World Federation (LWF). But
Food for Life is not an ordinary cookbook, she said. "Its
purpose is not only to try and taste international recipes but to
celebrate our diversity and lift up the concerns of the poor and
hungry. It serves to tell our stories in creating a better world
where all people have the right to food and education."
Food for Life is organized into four chapters or "cycles":
agricultural -- dishes for growing, planting, harvesting, and
"hungry" seasons; religious -- recipes for religious celebrations
and observances; life -- birthdays, weddings, funerals and other
events; and daily life -- breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts and
snacks.
Available in hardcover and paperback, the cookbook includes
a conversion table for cooking measurements, "exotic"
ingredients, country information and more. There are European
and North America versions; recipes have been tested and adapted
for these settings.
Food for Life demonstrates how the LWF -- a global communion
of churches representing 68.3 million of the world's Lutherans --
is present and active around the world, said Valeriano. One-
third of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA)
World Hunger Appeal funds goes directly to LWF projects that
strengthen global food security, long-term capacity building,
education, development programs and more, she said. The ELCA is
a member of the LWF.
Citing a 2008 LWF resolution on the global food crisis,
Valeriano said the food crisis "is not a short-term anomaly but
the result of longstanding and deeply entrenched policies, trends
and structural injustices related to land access and use,
agricultural production methods and subsidies, diversion of
productive agricultural land for bio-fuel crops, international
trade and speculation in agricultural commodities, (and)
urbanization exacerbated by climate change."
"We see the cookbook as an educational tool, inviting people
to be radically challenged to advocate for justice issues like
the right to food for all people," said Valeriano. "We in North
America should address our abundance surrounding food. When we
talk about poverty, we tend to think of it as 'out there,' when
the responsibility is 'right here,'" she said.
Produced by the LWF, ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Canada (ELCIC), the North American version of Food for
Life will be ready for shipment starting Oct. 3. The North
American version features a foreword from the Rev. Mark S.
Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and LWF president, and the Rev.
Susan C. Johnson, ELCIC national bishop. It also highlights two
examples of food security programs in North America supported by
the ELCA and ELCIC, said Valeriano.
Staff of the ELCA churchwide office here will celebrate the
book's release during worship Oct. 15, "the day before the United
Nations' World Food Day," said Valeriano. A local bakery will
prepare the bread served during Holy Communion using recipes from
Food for Life as well as prepare samples of other dishes, such as
the "Nthochi (banana) Bread" from Malawi, for a reception
following worship.
Food for Life is available through Augsburg Fortress,
Minneapolis, the publishing ministry of the ELCA.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog