WELCOME HEART: Living a Legacy Life
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
Kendall Vanderslice joins us today to talk bread, food, community, and loneliness—all some of my favorite topics. Founder of the non-profit, EdibleTheology.com, Kendall shares her wisdom regarding cultural polarization, and how eating together is a vulnerable and soul-filling activity. I love her call to include "rhythms of times at the table" in an effort to stave off our default into isolation. And, that when we do, we feel more known, respected and healed.
Author of We Will Feast, By Bread Alone, as well as the digital course, Bake With the Bible, Kendall also promotes a program we can use in our churches to build community and love, even in the middle of an election year! (Maybe especially in the middle of an election year!) And she is offering a copy of her recently released book/memoir: By Bread Alone: A Baker's Reflections on Hunger, Longing and the Goodness of God.
Some gems from our conversation:
Her favorite thing to bake (I asked!) is "Sourdough on Training Wheels." Sounds like my kind of sourdough.
In her own words
Hello! I’m Kendall Vanderslice – yes, before you ask, that is my true name.
It’s just by chance (or the humor of God) that I ended up in a field so fitting. I’m a baker and writer, whose best thinking occurs as I work dough between my hands; I scribble down thoughts on pieces of parchment dusted in flour, until I can parse them out later before my keyboard. When I embarked on a career as a pastry chef, I found that my love of bread transformed the ways I read scripture. Fascinated by God’s use of food throughout the arc of the Gospel, I merged my work in the kitchen with academic study of food and theology.
I founded the educational nonprofit Edible Theology as an outlet for further research and public engagement in this sphere. You can get a taste for our work by listening to our weekly podcast Kitchen Meditations.
I’m a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois (BA Anthropology), where I began engaging questions of food and faith. Interested in commensality—or, the social dynamics of eating together—I studied food at Boston University (MLA Gastronomy). My thesis on church meals sparked a range of theological questions, leading me to Duke University where I wrote a thesis on the theology of bread (MTS). In 2018 I was named a James Beard Foundation national scholar for my work on food and religion.
My first book, We Will Feast: Rethinking Dinner, Worship, and the Community of God, released May 2019. My second book, By Bread Alone: A Baker’s Reflections on Hunger, Longing, and the Goodness of God, releases February 2023.
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Ep 136 A Legacy of 70 Years: What I’ve Learned So Far
Ep 135 A Legacy of Meaningful Work with Michaela O‘Donnell
Ep 134 A Legacy to Seek, Go, and Create with Tim Winders
Ep 133 A Legacy of Leaning Into God in the Midst of Pediatric Cancer with Lindsey Noland
Ep 132 A Legacy of One Good Word with The Ruth Experience
Ep 131 A Legacy of Truth Instead of the Lies We Tell Ourselves with Susan Vandenheuvel
Ep 130 A Legacy of A Place of Abundance with Cheri Gregory and Kathi Lipp
Ep 129 A Legacy of Seeing God in Our Dailies with Diana Stuhr
Ep 128 A Legacy of Right Thinking with Sheree Shannon
Ep 127 A Legacy of Living Your Purpose with Tiffany Jo Baker
Ep 126 A Legacy of Making Your Life Count for Eternity
Ep 125 A Legacy of Loving Kids in the Projects with Nancy Thomason
Ep 124 A Legacy of Your Spiritual Game Plan with Cheri Fletcher
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