Faith and Food
’Tis the season for food and family. This post describes a new library exhibit that allows you to explore a bit of the Church’s food history and the role food plays in building community.
From green Jell-O and funeral potatoes to bishops’ storehouse cuisine, stereotypical Mormon foods suggest a culinary tradition that is part of the Latter-day Saint experience. Despite the potential quirkiness of such dishes, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have created a culture of togetherness around food. They express fellowship and care through ward potlucks, dinner sign-ups for families in need, and plates of cookies from visiting teachers. Throughout Church history, food has strengthened bonds of worship, been a symbol of religious devotion, and has cultivated relationships.
On New Year’s Day in 1846, about 50 Nauvoo Temple workers enjoyed a feast and dancing inside the newly constructed temple. William Clayton recorded, “Two or three songs were then sung, and President [Brigham] Young invited the company to supper, which had been prepared in another part of the [temple].” After a feast of roast turkey, “supper was soon ended and the sound of Hanson’s violin and Brother Averett’s flute in the east room gave notice that business of a different nature would soon be attended to. The floor was cleared of chairs and tables, and filled up with two sets of dancers, one on each side of the stove.”1
As the Saints settled in the West and began thriving, serving elegant, rich meals to guests on Sunday became a preoccupation for which some women missed Church meetings. Concerned about their priorities, President Brigham Young instructed families to simplify their meal preparations and focus instead on religious devotion on the Sabbath day. Mary Isabella Horne, Eliza R. Snow, and others began a Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association in 1870 to popularize simple meals, particularly when hosting guests, and declared “any table neatly spread, with no matter how plain, but wholesome, food, shall be considered fashionable.” At the close of this meeting, they enjoyed a meal of “good bread and butter, with stewed dried apples, one kind of cake, blanc-mange, with cream and preserves, and cold water.”2
Ward communities also have a strong tradition of gathering around food. The Highland Park Ward in Salt Lake City, Utah, is featured in the temporary exhibit Faith and Food at the Church History Library. The ward had dishes specially monogramed with “HP,” illustrating the significance of ward unity and eating together in common cause. At times that cause was simply social. For example, in September 1944 “a very successful Ward Reunion was held with banquet on the 29th, [and] concert on the 30th.” At other times, ward members ate together to meet needs, such as on February 22, 1940, when “the Seventies Quorum sponsored a dinner and program for the purpose of raising funds for missionaries they are keeping in the field.”3
In the Faith and Food exhibit at the Church History Library, we have endeavored to explore and display what food has meant to Mormon community culture over the years. It features recipe books, photographs, and artifacts from the Church History Library and Church History Museum collections. We have learned that each recipe has a story as unique as its creator, and we encourage you to share your family’s food story on the FamilySearch blog.
The Church History Library is currently seeking donations of recipe books that were created by Church units (branches, wards, missions, and so on) and that represent the Church beyond Utah’s Wasatch Front, particularly the global Church. If you have any items that meet these criteria, you can contact our acquisitions team at 1-801-240-5696 or history@ldschurch.org.
[1] William Clayton, An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton, ed. George D. Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1995), 247; see also Matthew S. McBride, A House for the Most High: The Story of the Original Nauvoo Temple (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), 278.
[2] “Minutes of Ladies’ Co-operative Retrenchment Meeting,” Deseret Evening News, Feb. 16, 1870.
[3] Manuscript History and Historical Reports, Highland Park Ward, Highland Stake, LR 3794 2, Church History Library, Salt Lake City.