I’m at the International Food Bloggers Convention with a bunch of foodies who love to write about their culinary adventures.

It’s the first time that I’ve been to a conference and didn’t have to give a talk.  It was kinda’ nice actually to just sit and listen to other people who have a passion for food.

While I wasn’t prepared to say anything publicly, my Roman Collar speaks very, very loudly!  Being the only priest in the room brought enough attention that  Morgan Spurlock – the independent film producer and star of his docu-drama “Supersize Me” and keynote speaker for the evening, offered his encouragement to our Grace Before Meals movement after he passed me the microphone to introduce myself.  Rather cool, humbling, and fun!

His message, as well as the comments from almost every person I met, resonated with what I do for Grace Before Meals. Participants all seem to recall their own family meals, family recipes, and Thanksgivings.  Many people here saw the Throw Down episode with Bobby Flay and they were reminded of the message:  eat with your family.  This food blogger, “White Lotus Cooks,” cooks and blogs about her deceased mother’s recipes as a testimony of a love that was shared through these delicious southeast asian foods.  That food testament is definitely linked to Jesus’ command:  Take and eat and drink in memory of me.

I’m meeting people from around the country / world and we all have something in common.  We love food so much that it transcends our difference.

While I’m rather sure we don’t share the same political, social and moral values, we all value the need to spend time with each other, get to know each other, and eat together.  In fact, this food truck owner in Portland (this guy has like 600 of these trucks!) definitely agreed.  We kinda’ became instant friends because of this common love for food and family.  When I get to Portland he said that I should not only visit his food trucks, I will actually cook in one.  Now, that’s an episode!

My biggest repeated line of the evening was the understanding of food as “religious.”  The Latin verb, religere,  means to bind together.  It doesn’t take a genius, but some faithful foodies, to realize that food is the most “religious” experience in humanity because it’s the one things that can bring us together!  The challenge:  Make really good food!

You’ll hear more about this in upcoming blasts.  This event, so far, has reinvigorated my passion to do more writing.  While I’ve already written the book that was recently published by Double Day of New York, I felt even more motivated to finish my second book:  Spicing Up Married Life – 12 dinner dates to strengthen the relationship of married couples around the dinner table.

For those who are new to this site, feel free and browse, but more importantly join the faith, food, family and fun discussion by signing up for the free weekly blasts.  This food blogger conference has really opened my eyes to just how powerful food really is. I thought I was a foodie?  Being with all of these people in the food-lovers world makes me pray even harder so that one day we’ll all be able to feast for all eternity in heaven, where we will feast on none other than LAMB – of God, that is.

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