Living and Dealing with Food in an Affluent Society—A Case for the Study of Lived (Non)Religion

Abstract

Significant changes have been taking place in the field of the sociology of religion in the last few decades, which challenge researchers to rethink this scholarly field. This article suggests that a great deal could be learned about the current dilemmas within this field through research that explores the moral underpinnings of everyday food consumption within contemporary society that is characterized by abundance. More specifically, the article proposes that everyday food consumption and everyday ethics provide unique opportunities to transcend and surpass crucial distinctions within social sciences in a way that can feed the sociological imagination in relation to research on lived (non)religion. Drawing on examples from research on food consumption in the nonreligious context and at the individual, discursive and institutional levels, this study shows how the everyday ethics of food consumption can serve as a point of departure for sociological research, which could help researchers to understand the currents of lived religion and nonreligion in a way that evades the idea of religion as a certain set of practices or beliefs, or as a specific religious affiliation. This research would enable the study of issues such as practices, beliefs, meanings and belonging, as well as distancing, withdrawal, and indifference.

Exploring the relationship between food and spirituality: A literature review

“…Food practices are extremely profound and fundamental due to their regularity, and have been linked with different religions and theology in general through all recorded history (Salonen, 2018). Most of these food practices are speculated to be adopted by folk in order to avoid diseases relative to their time and place (Johnson et al, 2011;Ghaffari, 2014).…”

“…The pragmatic aspects of food can also be attributed to religion and spirituality and in literature can be found under the term of "lived religion". Spirituality is not based on ideas or ideals but rather lived everyday practicality and in the same sense is related to food (Salonen, 2018). This provides a common ground area for both fields to be studied respectively through a lens of a symbiotic relationship.…”

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Spirituality is emerging as a novel research area throughout different subjects but being a highly subjective and controversial topic, it very often fails to deliver academically (McSherry and Cash, 2004). Spirituality, in the same way as food, is not merely about theories or concepts but is deeply embedded in the practical elements of life (Salonen, 2018). From that perspective, the conjoint area of research between food and spirituality is auspicious fertile land for new knowledge both for academics and practitioners.

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Ethical veganism as nonreligion inMr J Casamitjana Costa v the League Against Cruel Sports

“…4 Important to this relational approach is that nonreligion constitutes more than a lack of religion and that the nonreligious-including but not limited to self-identifying atheists, humanists and agnostics as well as those simply indifferent to religion-are not a uniform group. Qualitative research using a lived (non)religion framework demonstrates that the nonreligious are diverse and complex in regard to their identities, experiences, practices and ethics (Beaman, 2017(Beaman, , 2020Salonen, 2018;Zuckerman et al, 2016). Some nonreligious individuals reject or ignore religion, while others engage in practices traditionally deemed religious, like prayer, and hold certain religious or theistic beliefs, including a belief in God (Baker and Smith, 2009;Smith and Cragun, 2019;Wilkins-Laflamme, 2015).…”

Dominion, Stewardship and Reconciliation in the Accounts of Ordinary People Eating Animals

“…Furthermore, this article participates in emerging discussions concerning lived nonreligion (Salonen 2018;Beaman 2017). Currently in many countries-particularly in the so-called Western world-a growing number of people express no religious affiliation rather than identifying with a particular religious community or practicing religion actively (e.g., Woodhead 2017;Beaman and Tomlins 2015;Lee 2014).…”