In Elysian Kitchens, Jody Eddy takes read­ers on a spe­cial jour­ney through the world’s reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties, explor­ing their culi­nary prac­tices. This book is a heart­felt trib­ute to the way monas­ter­ies, tem­ples, mosques, and syn­a­gogues have not only pre­served region­al food tra­di­tions but also shaped and evolved them.

The book is inter­est­ed in the his­tor­i­cal role of reli­gious insti­tu­tions in safe­guard­ing culi­nary her­itage. Reli­gious lead­ers, Eddy notes, were among the ear­li­est to forge trade routes, car­ry­ing with them a wealth of food and cook­ing wis­dom, ingre­di­ents, and tech­niques. This exchange of knowl­edge was foun­da­tion­al in estab­lish­ing ancient food­ways, and it con­tin­ues to influ­ence con­tem­po­rary culi­nary practices.

One of Elysian Kitchens​’s high­lights is its explo­ration of the dynam­ic nature of monas­tic cook­ing. Eddy describes how monks and nuns engage with their culi­nary her­itage, tak­ing immense pride in their role as mod­ern cooks, farm­ers, and food pro­duc­ers. Their activ­i­ties mir­ror a glob­al trend toward self-suf­fi­cien­cy and DIY cul­ture, as seen in prac­tices such as can­ning, pick­ling, brew­ing, cheese-mak­ing, for­ag­ing, gar­den­ing, and bee­keep­ing. Eddy paints a vivid pic­ture of how these reli­gious prac­ti­tion­ers hon­or their past while also embrac­ing the future.

The book is as per­son­al as it is glob­al. The author’s jour­ney began with a vis­it to the Tibetan Bud­dhist monastery Thikse in Ladakh, India, fol­low­ing the unex­pect­ed death of her moth­er. The com­fort she found while par­tic­i­pat­ing in the monks’ dai­ly rit­u­als — from mak­ing yak but­ter tea at sun­rise to enjoy­ing drum­ming cer­e­monies — under­scores the pro­found con­nec­tion between food, tra­di­tion, and spir­i­tu­al solace. Eddy inter­weaves her per­son­al nar­ra­tive with reflec­tions on oth­er reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties, such as the monks at Saint John’s Uni­ver­si­ty in Min­neso­ta and the Sufi culi­nary tra­di­tions in Fes, Morocco.

The author’s glob­al explo­ration cov­ers a wide range of reli­gious kitchens, includ­ing those of Bud­dhist, Jew­ish, Mus­lim, Sikh, Sufi, Maronite Catholic, and Roman Catholic com­mu­ni­ties across coun­tries like the Unit­ed States, Cana­da, Ire­land, France, Spain, Moroc­co, Lebanon, India, and Japan. These spiritual/​religious prac­ti­tion­ers are described as being on the cut­ting edge of food tech­nol­o­gy, dis­pelling the stereo­type that reli­gious lead­ers’ prac­tices are out­dat­ed or dis­en­gaged from con­tem­po­rary trends.

The author inter­acts with a diverse group of spir­i­tu­al lead­ers. These indi­vid­u­als, who are of vary­ing ages and have dif­fer­ent gen­ders, back­grounds, and hob­bies, share per­son­al details about their lives, chal­lenges, and aspi­ra­tions. They all fos­ter com­mu­ni­ty sol­i­dar­i­ty, sup­port region­al phil­an­thropy, and main­tain a con­nec­tion to their culi­nary heritage.

The book also address­es the uni­ver­sal nature of food — how it can bring peo­ple togeth­er, even amid reli­gious strife. The recipes includ­ed in the book reflect this uni­ver­sal­i­ty. They range from tra­di­tion­al dish­es to mod­ern twists, all select­ed for their abil­i­ty to trans­port home cooks to dis­tant locales and cap­ture the essence of each com­mu­ni­ty. The author has adapt­ed these recipes to be acces­si­ble to home cooks; she uses wide­ly avail­able ingre­di­ents and fea­si­ble prepa­ra­tion meth­ods. Orga­nized into intu­itive cat­e­gories like ​“Syrups and Pre­serves” and ​“Soups and Stews,” the recipes include car­damom-pis­ta­chio las­si, Irish ched­dar-and-bacon soda bread, cha­p­atis, mat­zo ball soup, chick­en Nor­mandy, egg­plant-and-chick­pea tajine, pota­to latkes, and salt­ed caramel fudge brown­ies. This orga­ni­za­tion allows read­ers to nav­i­gate eas­i­ly through the book and find inspi­ra­tion for every meal and occasion.

Elysian Kitchens is a cel­e­bra­tion of the inter­sec­tion between culi­nary prac­tices and reli­gion and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty. It offers read­ers a unique per­spec­tive on how food can serve as a bridge between tra­di­tion and inno­va­tion and among diverse reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties. Eddy’s heart­felt nar­ra­tive and exten­sive research make this book a valu­able addi­tion to culi­nary and cul­tur­al literature.