Other than dessert fetishes and the occasional favorite dish (chicken cacciatore), no specific foods mark my family. However, we do have a number of food (or rather, drink) practices connected to being Mormon. These stem from the Word of Wisdom, a health code based on scripture. The Word of Wisdom is located in section 89 of the Doctrine & Covenants, claimed revelations by LDS prophets. The Word of Wisdom instructs members to cut down on meat and alcohol, avoid tobacco and "hot drinks" (D&C 89:9) and to eat plenty of grains. In consequence, members will "receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones . . . shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge . . . shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint." (D&C 89:18-20)
The physical body is an essential element to Mormon doctrine, and continual progression is a theological principle. Also, as Richard Bushman points out in his book Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, the Word of Wisdom "came at a time [1833] when temperance and food reforms were flourishing" (212). Initially, the Word of Wisdom was perceived less as a set of commands and more a series of recommendations—more proscriptive than restrictive. Members adopted it as a lifestyle, a desire to lead a godly life that would improve the body.
The Word of Wisdom was already recognized as part of Mormon culture when it was codified by church leaders in the 1920s. The codified version clarifies "hot drinks" as specifically no tea or coffee. Members are instructed to avoid illegal drugs as well as alcohol and tobacco. Members are also encouraged to eat right and get plenty of rest but the restrictions (negatives) are usually recalled, in and out of the church, quicker than the positives.
Although the Word of Wisdom has an institutionalized (and written) origin, it has gained attendant lore. Stories affirming the Word of Wisdom's beneficial qualities abound in Mormon culture, which certainly doesn't negate the Word's healthy possibilities. In the attached cartoon, the Mormon's clean cut appearance is emphasized by the pipe and cigarette smoking of his comrades. The cartoon is both a tribute to the ideal of living the Word of Wisdom and a whimsical satire of Mormon self-perception.
As well as stories about the benefits of following the Word of Wisdom, people have also created explanations for the restrictions. The injunction against tea and coffee has been explained by some members and church leaders as due to caffeine. In the twentieth century, many Mormons consequently expanded their practice of "no tea or coffee" to no caffeinated drinks, including soda and, for real gung ho types, hot chocolate.
I was raised in a house without caffeinated soda. Oddly enough, I was also raised to understand that the theology (the codified law) referred only to tea and coffee; the avoidance of caffeinated soda was, as they say, an optional extra. Abstinence from Coke, Pepsi and such was, in my case at least, an entirely cultural rather than religious performance.
How did this come about? I asked my parents why they decided to rear me and my siblings without caffeinated soft drinks. Both my parents remember their families making homemade root beer, but neither family drank much manufactured soda. In my mother's case, the practice of no-caffeinated drinks became a defining element of family membership. She remembers one of her teachers sending a student out for a Coke every lunch hour. My mother accepted this custom without question, but during the same time period, she was shocked when a brother-in-law ordered a Coke at a restaurant. What was acceptable for the culture at large was not acceptable within the family circle, although she could not remember when the practice was adopted by her parents (a true instance of anonymous folklore!).
My father's adoption of no-caffeinated soda was more conscious and deliberate. To him, the practice was tied to a broader cultural movement throughout the church—the desire to improve oneself spiritually, physically and mentally. Rather than keep to "the letter of the law," members were encouraged to obey the "spirit of the law." My father perceived abstinence from manufactured soft drinks (the presence of phosphoric acid actually bothered him more than the caffeine) as part of that commitment. He compared the practice of no-caffeinated drinks to not swimming on Sunday. The question in his mind was not, "What does the rule say?" but "How do we keep the Sabbath Day holy?" or, "How do we eat well?"
His decision, and my mother's experience, probably explains the no-sweet-cereal rule of my childhood as well as the dearth of chips, Doritos, Twinkies and candy bars in our cupboards. A large part of this family practice, however, is the result of personal taste. My parents do not care for snack foods. Neither, thankfully, did they invest themselves in the health-food explosion of the 1970s. I never had to eat green pasta, carob cookies or 30-grain bread. We ate traditional American, middleclass fare, and we always, always, always had dessert (especially chocolate).
Many Mormons do become involved in buying, growing, cooking health food, especially since Mormons are encouraged to plant vegetable gardens and keep food storage (which often results in buying bulk or storing wheat). We had several vegetable gardens when I was a child, and my parents maintain a small one on Peaks Island. (I keep trying to grow tomato plants on my fire-escape—the poor things; I am so notoriously un-green-thumbed, my green-thumbed mother bought me a plastic hanging plant when I killed a live one. The fake plant was a gift, but it was also an act of mercy to living things in general.)
In recent years, as part of its encouragement of healthy living, the church has also stressed abstinence from any addictive substance, including the use of non-prescribed, over-the-counter drugs. However, to retain full fellowship, members are only required to avoid tea, coffee, alcohol, illegal drugs and tobacco. Yet every church lesson on the Word of Wisdom inevitably results in the "it's the caffeine!" explanation (followed sometimes by high-spirited comparisons of various diets).
I personally believe that, like many practices in a religious community, the Word of Wisdom is a signal of commitment. It is a way of life, a practice, that, as Susan Kalčik explains in her article "Ethnic Foodways in America: Symbol and the Performance of Identity," helps to maintain a group relationship (45). Kalčik focuses on the exclusionary aspect of avoiding certain foods (49), but in many cases abstinence, as in times of fasting, can promote mutual identity or understanding. In the second attached cartoon, the missionary's explanation, "We're fasting . . . " excuses his companion's behavior. It also reinforces their identity as a pair; they are in this together. The one missionary will literally pull the other missionary back from temptation.
"If foodways communicate about people," Kalčik writes, "then people may use foodways to communicate about themselves" (54). In many ways, the Mormon practice of polygamy in the nineteenth century carried exactly the same function as the Word of Wisdom today; it was a practice that defined, beyond any doubts, membership in a religious community.
Thus, in Mormon life, the Word of Wisdom functions both as an institutional command (and measure of obedience) and a cultural foodway. It also provides opportunity for lore. Possibly, a great deal of lore arises from the need to explain, rationalize, "okay" or excuse a cultural practice to the world at large. Mormons will often stress the modern health benefits of the Word of Wisdom, illustrating through story and statistics that Mormons have always been at the forefront of science. In the search for explanations, the once-simple law gets expanded. Hence, "no tea or coffee" becomes "no caffeine" (the scientific explanation) which becomes "no Dr. Pepper" (the expanded application).
It is common to human nature to demand underlying consistency, either in self-defense (I'm right to do this!) or in an effort at comprehension (now, I understand!). Natural disasters are connected to a single source (God or pollution), violence is linked to one cultural explanation (television or disintegrating families). For many people, our national president seems to provide an unending source of blame. The search for causation is not always negative. Einstein spent years trying to connect the laws of gravity with the laws of relativity (and now, through string theory, it seems that connection will be made). If no connection exists between disparate elements, humans rush to fill the gap--provide stories, theories, explanations, superstitions.
In the case of the Word of Wisdom, I have always been aware of the gap, in my own life, between the scriptural commandment, the codified law and the cultural practice. It would not be necessary for me to abstain from Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew or the all powerful Jolt (is that still around?) in order to remain a faithful member. In fact, once a year I drive a fellow church member to the grocery store to pick up five large crates of cherry Mountain Dew. However, I see no good reason to change the practice I was raised with. Think of the money I save! And I always have A&W root beer to fall back on for those ice cream floats.
Cartoons 1 & 2
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