Prayer before meals

This is from GetReligion, a site that watches how the media does not get religion. Here they catch a piece of absurdity where the TV chef Alton Brown says that he is religious and the host Simon does not realize that it means he says grace before he eats. To be religious means one prays, studies scripture, and observes festivals. Most of the Christians that I have worked with or attend meetings with say grace before meals, that goes without saying. But what I find interesting is that religious Jews have the same flabbergasted sense when a Christian says they are religious that it may mean they prayer before eating, attend daily services, or say evening prayers. It seems Jews are wedded to the false dichotomy that Judaism is are deeds and Christianity is creed. Even modern orthodox Jews dont realize that the attorney, doctor or real estate broker who say he or she is a religious Christian prays before eating and attends services?

May 26, 2012 – SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This Memorial Day weekend, many Americans will fire up a grill to cook dogs or burgers, tuna, zucchini or tofu. That’s our focus as we begin the occasional WEEKEND EDITION series all about seasonal food and drink called Taste of Summer. Alton Brown joins us now, the food historian and scientist. He’s best known for his award-winning Food Network show “Good Eats” and for hosting “Iron Chef America.” He’s currently one of the celebrity chef mentors on the reality competition “Food Network Star.”

SIMON: Let me ask you a question that doesn’t have anything to do with grilling but has a lot to do with you, while we have the chance.

BROWN: OK.

SIMON: You say grace before a meal?

BROWN: I do. Yeah. I say grace. I’m a big believer in grace. I happen to believe in a God that made all the food and so I’m pretty grateful for that and I thank him for that. But I’m also thankful for the people that put the food on the table.

The people that grew the food, the people that got the food to me. I think that being grateful, being thankful, makes food tastes better, actually, and it’s something that we should take time to do. I do.

SIMON: Might be a good thing to remember on a weekend like this, wouldn’t it?

BROWN: Might be.

GetRelgion- I also got a kick out of how the host says the question doesn’t have anything at all whatsoever to do with grilling. (How does he know?) And then he says it does have a lot to do with Alton Brown.
But after the piece was sent along, it did kind of remind me how weird it can be to be a Christian — or religious adherent who thanks a deity in prayer — in this media environment. I mean, when I think of my family members, the people

I go to church with and almost every other Christian I know at the level of having eaten with them, we all say prayers before our meals. It’s something that happens before every single meal. It’s completely typical to the point that if I went over to a Christian friend’s house and we didn’t pray before eating, it would be seriously weird.

And yet the subtext in some media environments, I can’t help but notice, is that praying before a meal is the abnormal or atypical thing worth asking a question about. It’s just kind of interesting, isn’t it?
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