Krishna's prasadam: "eating our way back to godhead"
This article analyzes the preparation, consumption, and distribution of food in ISKCON, and the ways in which ISKCON has absorbed and remade the Hindu tradition of prasadam, transforming it into a major vehicle of proselytization, a sacred cuisine, a health cure, a worldwide charitable enterprise, a...
| Published in: | Material religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2012]
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| In: |
Material religion
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| Further subjects: | B
Prabhupada
B Food For All B prasadam B Krishna B Fasting B ISKCON B Feasting |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | This article analyzes the preparation, consumption, and distribution of food in ISKCON, and the ways in which ISKCON has absorbed and remade the Hindu tradition of prasadam, transforming it into a major vehicle of proselytization, a sacred cuisine, a health cure, a worldwide charitable enterprise, and increasingly a successful method of fundraising. The article contextualizes ISKCON's food culture, arguing that it emerges from the encounters between Chaitanya Vaishnavism and modernity, and the shifting patterns of overlap between Hindu and Western culture. Like ISKCON itself, it is the result of an uneven process of creative adaptation to some aspects of modernity and of resistance to others. Analysis of Krishna's prasadam reveals a dynamic tension between traditionalism and the reappropriation of tradition. While ISKCON's cultural and religious context is undoubtedly Hindu, its revisioning of prasadam as an instrument of global mission is radical. Its "kitchen culture" has grown to incorporate eco-projects, free food distribution, mass food production, and largescale catering. ISKCON claims that its food culture will restore human physical health and the health of the planet at a time when affluent nations are eating themselves to death. Its emphasis on ethically sourced food and sustainable lifestyles is therefore increasingly in harmony with international plans for environmental protection and climate change. |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2752/175183412X13522006994773 |