MCC Washington Memo

I’ve met more than one Mennonite who first became aware of Anabaptists through the More-with-Less Cookbook. The cookbook was commissioned by MCC in the mid-1970s in the midst of a food crisis. It has become something of a classic, encouraging readers to think about their consumption patterns.

Since then, MCC has commissioned two additional cookbooks: Extending the Table and Simply in Season. I have enjoyed many delicious recipes from these books, as the stains and hand-written notes in my copies of them suggest.

But the cookbooks also point to some biblical themes that can shape our response to the current food crisis and beyond.

More-with-Less

The subtitle of this book is “suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world’s limited food resources.” It encourages reducing our consumption of meat, refined sugar and processed foods. The cookbook reminds us that our choices have an impact on others.

God has created the world with an abundance of resources, more than enough to feed everyone a healthy and sustainable diet (see Psalms 65, 104 and 145).

But sin enters into the picture, and we become greedy, taking more than our fair share. In addition to our individual food choices, U.S. trade policy has set up an unfair system with subsidies and trade restrictions (pp. 2–3). In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells the story of a rich man who plans to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, hoarding the land’s generous harvest (12:13–21). Jesus uses the story to illustrate that we should trust instead in God’s provision (12:22–34).

Extending the Table

The second book in the series highlights recipes from around the world and encourages us to enjoy the richness of flavors found within different cultures.

Its global perspective reminds us that we in the United States are just one small part of the world community. This brings us an appropriate sense of national humility, as well as responsibility, given the serious inequities present in our world (see Amos 3:1–2, together with 6:1–7). Furthermore, each one of us in the human family is made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27).

The writer of 1 John reminds us that because we are children of God, we are to reflect the divine image by caring for one another in love (1 John 3:1–2, 17).

Simply in Season

The newest cookbook in the series stresses the importance of eating seasonal, locally grown food and encourages us to connect directly with farmers and growers.

One primary reason for moving away from our current food system, with its heavy reliance on fossil fuels to transport food, is the toll that it takes on our earth. We must work for food policy that is sustainable, for God’s good earth and for the wellbeing of future generations. Indeed, the “earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it” (Psalm 24:1).

In her preface to More-with-Less, Doris Janzen Longacre writes that there is no “single answer to the world’s food problem. It may not be within our capacity to effect an answer. But it is within our capacity to search for a faithful response.” Indeed, we who have experienced the Bread of Life can do no less.