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So, what we're eating does untold damage both our physical bodies and our social bodies. We eat on the go, without time for fellowship or community. Rather than prepare food ourselves, we rely on thousands of underpaid workers who clean, chop, and grind in unsafe environments. And the food we think is nourishing or at least fueling our bodies is really wrecking our gastrointestinal systems and our kidneys, and killing our kids.

All Americans should be worried about the all-American meal, but Christians have some additional reasons to worry. As Sylvester Graham knew, we're supposed to safeguard our bodies, for they are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

At the center of our faith is a man sitting at a table breaking bread with his disciples. Imagine what the Last Supper would have been like if, instead, Jesus and the Apostles merely grabbed burgers on the run.

Lauren F. Winner is a contributing editor for Christianity Today.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The Material History of American Religion Project site has more information on Whitebread Protestants, including an earlier paper by Daniel Sack, "On deciphering a potluck: The social meaning of church socials."

The New York Times Book Review says Sack's Whitebread Protestants "has rearranged a culture most often viewed as mainstream and boring and effectively served it up as a complex and even exotic morsel."

The Christian Science Monitor , The Dallas Morning News, Lexington Herald-Leader, and Religion News Service have all profiled or reviewed Sack's Whitebread Protestants.

A lengthy excerpt of Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, "Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good," was once available on The Atlantic's site, but now just exists in pirated form elsewhere. Meanwhile, The Atlantic site still offers an interview with Schlosser about the book.

The New York Times Book Review also has a review of Fast Food Nation, an audio interview with Schlosser, and the book's first chapter.

Salon.com also has a review of Fast Food Nation and interview with the author.

Schlosser also spoke about the book on NPR's Fresh Air.

Last year, the Associated Press took note of a Minnesota "hotdish bill" that exempts organizations holding potlucks from state food-handling regulations.

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May 21 2001, Vol. 45, No. 7