Good for your soul

Finding Joy Where Food and Faith Meet

by Emily Simpson Chapman

I LOVE to cook! When I was telling my son’s friend that I think I may go overboard sometimes, she said “You have to read ‘The Catholic Table’. You’ll love it!”

I ordered it right then as we were chatting. I couldn’t wait to read it and see the connection of my faith with my love of feeding people!

The book is a great size, 170 pages, and very easy to read. The bonus is she posts some yummy recipes to try.

I really enjoyed the book as it talked about her struggle with her faith, her struggle with an eating disorder and then her discovery that “God’s grace can transform and heal us through the food we make, eat and share”

I LOVED THAT!

Although I have not had the struggle with my faith, or an eating disorder, it was a very good read to follow her path.

What I loved about the book was how it brought my two passions together! I loved the idea of inviting people over to share food – no matter what your house looks like, no matter what you serve, no matter what – its just important to come to the table to gather to share God’s blessings through food!

When I read it, I had just recently moved to a new home 45 minutes from my friends and family. I discovered that there were 10 other couples in our neighborhood that were catholic. I also discovered that I sorely missed our family tradition of going out to breakfast after mass every Sunday since our kids were not home anymore to join us. I contacted the 10 catholic neighbors and invited them for brunch after mass. Everyone loved it so much, we decided to make it a thing! We call it “Come to the Table”. We meet once a month in someones house on Sunday after mass. We decided that we would rather make the entire brunch when the brunch was at our house, rather than bringing something every month. It’s been so fun to get together, try new recipes, get to know our neighbors, see their beautiful homes and just enjoy great conversation. I made it clear from the beginning, that it was just brunch – we were not doing a bible study, we were not discussing being Catholic – we were just having brunch together! We do say a blessing before we eat, and we do talk about our church, priest or just being Catholic, but that is not our focus. The reason it is not our focus, is I didn’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable thinking it was a really religious brunch. I wanted everyone to just feel welcomed! Our focus is coming to the table to share God’s blessing together!

I hope you’ll read it and start inviting people over to share food at your table! Enjoy!

Below are some photos of the brunch I made. Unfortunately, I only took a few, and missed much of the food! Also, forgot to get a group photo. Next time I host, I’ll be better!