About this Book

'Sitting down at a table to eat is an activity so grounded in the ordinary, so basic to the daily routines of life, we rarely ponder it beyond the simple inquiry, 'What's for dinner?' However, scratch a little deeper and you discover in eating one of the most meaning-laden activities of our lives, one so immersed in human longing and relationship that it takes on sacred dimensions.'A trained chef, teacher, social researcher, minister of religion and homemaker, Simon Carey Holt draws on experience and research to explore the role of eating in our search for meaning and community. To do so, he invites us to sit at the tables of daily life - from kitchen tables to backyard barbecues, from cafe tables to the beautifully set tables of Melbourne's finest restaurants - and consider how our life at these tables interacts with our deepest values and commitments.