Fast Food

Abstract

Mass fast food pervades modern society. We here offer a critical theological appraisal of fast food and of the nexus of social values of which it is part. We assess its production and consumption within the doctrinal contexts of creation, fall and redemption, and identify tensions between fast food culture and theologically-formed approaches to food and eating. The continual availability of fast food, its homogeneity, and its dislocation from locally-shaped eating practices can all be seen as aspects of humankind's fallen state, and ultimately as signs of misdirected appetite. They contrast with the inculturated and social character of faithful eating, including with some other historic and present-day takeout cultures.

Keywords:

• creation
• fall
• fast food
• globalization
• redemption
• takeout food

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Grumett

David Grumett is Research Fellow in Theology in the University of Exeter, UK. He is author (with Rachel Muers) of Theology on the Menu: Asceticism, Meat and Christian Diet (Routledge, 2010) and editor (with Rachel Muers) of Eating and Believing: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vegetarianism and Theology (T&T Clark, 2008). Department of Theology of Religion, Amory Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK ([email protected]).

Luke Bretherton

Luke Bretherton is Reader in Theology and Politics at King's College London, where he is Convenor of the Faith and Public Policy Forum. He has written Christianity and Contemporary Politics: The Conditions and Possibilities of Faithful Witness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) and Hospitality as Holiness: Christian Witness Amid Moral Diversity (Ashgate, 2006). He has worked with a variety of faith-based NGOs, mission organizations and churches in a range of cultural contexts in Britain and abroad. Department of Education and Professional Studies, Waterloo Bridge Wing, Franklin-Wilkins Building, Waterloo Road, London SE1 9NH, UK ([email protected]).

Stephen R. Holmes

Stephen R. Holmes is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology in the University of St Andrews. His books include Public Theology in Cultural Engagement (Paternoster, 2010) and Listening to the Past: The Place of Tradition in Theology (Baker/Paternoster, 2002). He is Chair of the Theology and Public Policy Advisory Commission of the Evangelical Alliance UK and a Council of Reference member of CafeChurch UK. He has interests in Evangelical Christianity, Baptist theology and constructive theology. The School of Divinity, St Mary's College, South Street, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9JU, UK ([email protected]).