Author(s): Adrian Butash

Poetry

Connecting cultures to each other, nature, and the infinite, breaking bread together is the most universal cultural experience. Commonly regarded as the first act of worship, saying grace acknowledges the bounty as a gift from the divine. Blending scholarly insight with the poet's love of language, this new edition of Bless this Food presents additional prayers as well as expanded background information about each one. The graces have been carefully selected from all the world's major religions (Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Shintoism, Confucisnism, Sufism, Tamilism, Unitarianism), ancient traditions (Greek, Egyptian, Native American, Indian, African), and great poets, thinkers, and activists (Shakespeare, Milton, Gandhi, Mother Teresa). The book even includes two prayers in American Sign Language and features the short prayer "Bless this Food" in 19 languages. Each prayer is introduced with cultural context and intriguing details about its history and evolution.