‘Catholic Feast Days’ offers fresh ideas.
Parish life outside of Mass often centers around religious education and evening talks.
But for seven years at St. Veronica Catholic Church in Chantilly, Virginia, “Cooking With the Saints” was a culinary-based highlight.
My former pastor, Father Edward Hathway, approved of holding this cooking class, and the recipes used for each class were dedicated to a particular saint (think rose-inspired for St. Thérèse) and were derived from his or her devotion or country of origin. To help lead each class, a Catholic visitor, a native of that particular country, came and presented — for example, yucca cake from a devotee of St. Peter Claver. Those classes’ festive foods sparked the creation of Cooking With the Saints, my co-written cookbook.
Given the Catholic liturgical calendar, connecting food to the Church’s celebrations for saints and solemnities is a fitting way to live the faith. Finding the ideal recipe for that day meant looking at Catholic communities in different countries and then getting the approval to use that recipe in the book.
After all, God has provided mankind with the right food and faith to keep body and soul alive.
My new cookbook, Catholic Feast
