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Martin Palmer on BBC Radio 2 this Sunday on ARC's book on mindful eating

May 9, 2014:

*** Exciting news - Faith in Food: Changing the world one meal at a time was officially launched at The Wesley in London on June 17 and is now on sale for £14.99 ***

Martin Palmer will be on BBC Radio 2's 'Good Morning Sunday with Clare Balding' programme this Sunday - which is being broadcast live from Bristol's Food Connections Festival - to talk about ARC's colourful new guide to eating mindfully, Faith in Food: Changing the world one meal at a time.

The 228-page book, which has a foreword by Prince Charles, a passionate advocate for sustainable farming, is aimed at helping people make sustainable and faith-consistent choices around the food they eat, grow and buy. So it is very appropriate that the book is being celebrated at the Bristol Food Connections Festival, even though its official publication date is a month away.

Living our values

Faith in Food combines essays, storytelling, recipes, pioneering initiatives and beautiful food prayers and blessings as it considers how one of the greatest opportunities to live our values — or betray them — lies in the food we put on our plates.

With articles by key people in leading organisations such as the Soil Association, Compassion In World Farming and the Fairtrade Foundation, Faith in Food looks at some of the key issues in sustainable food and farming. Contributors include Patrick Holden of the Sustainable Food Trust, Dr Vandana Shiva of India's Navdanya ("nine seeds") organisation and Martin Palmer of ARC.

The book also examines the role of food within six major faiths – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism - with inspiring quotations from their holy scriptures, food blessings and some examples of the foods they use in their faith celebrations.

Inspiring ideas

Finally, Faith in Food offers pragmatic advice for simple changes we can all make in our daily lives and celebrates the inspiring ideas and actions that people of faith are already undertaking to create a fairer, more sustainable, and brighter future for us all.

Faith in Food, which is on sale for £14.99, published by Bene-Factum, has been produced on a not-for-profit basis by ARC: ARC’s share of any profits that are generated will go to support faith-based food and farming projects.

For more information, here is a longer press release about the book, with examples of some of the food prayers and more images from the book.

In the meantime, to whet your appetite, here is one of the beautiful prayers in the book, which is part of Raag Maajh, the second raga, or classical religious melody, in Sikhism’s holiest text, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib:

You are the Ocean of Water, and I am Your fish.

Your Name is the drop of water, and I am a thirsty sparrowhawk.

You are my hope and You are my thirst.

My mind is absorbed in You.

Just as the baby is satisfied by drinking milk,

and the poor person is pleased by seeing wealth,

and the thirsty person is refreshed

by drinking cool water,

so is this mind drenched with delight in the Lord.

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May 9, 2014:
Martin Palmer on BBC Radio 2 this Sunday on ARC's book on mindful eating
Martin Palmer will be on BBC Radio 2's 'Good Morning Sunday with Clare Balding' programme this Sunday - broadcast live from Bristol's Food Connections Festival - to talk about ARC's inspirational new book, Faith in Food: Changing the world one meal at a time.