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MAKING MEXICAN MOLLI 43
I have pointed out food has been one of the most paradigmatic sym-
bols in many ancient (the case of molli, the Aztecs, for instance) as well
as current religious practices.76 Most importantly, alimentary theology is
an invitation to bring together people s desire to eradicate spiritual and
material malnutrition, which again have to do with bodies individual,
communal, ecological.
This is an issue deeply rooted in the daily practices of sharing and
refusal to share. Being attentive and caring not only requires us to reflect
upon relationality and reciprocity among individuals and societies; it
also requires us to become aware of humanity s relationship with ani-
mals, plants, and the planet s resources in general.77 Alimentary theology
is critical of any form of power that is exercised as the violent subordina-
tion of others, but also of the ecological power whereby humanity
exploits the rest of the created order. In saying this I do not mean to
imply that humanity does not enjoy a special place in creation, including
over the angels, as the biblical narratives and Christian tradition teach.
Rather, in saying this I want to denounce the exercise of power as coer-
cion and annihilation, and thus as the betrayal of humanity s vocation to
be good stewards of creation and to promote harmonious and peaceful
relations, including ecological ones. Humanity must be part of the larger
ecological body, for it is not an other to us. I am aware that this coer-
cive power has often been exercised by Catholics and Christians through-
out history.78 Because of this reality, alimentary theology insists on
metanoia, a continuous process of conversion incarnated in daily prac-
tices of caritas that must start from within.
I envision alimentary theology as a practice of power that is non-
coercive, but communal, rooted in nurturing, loving care for one another,
and imitating God s own radical gesture of love. I hope this will move us
beyond a social practice of mere mutual tolerance and instead welcome
an effort to a simultaneously local and global ecological embodiment of
communion expressed as hospitality and mutual nurturance. Nurturing
embodies caritas for everybody. The making of alimentary theology may
hopefully become a true sharing of food for thought, soul, and body
the human delight in God s self-sharing.
76
See e.g. Las Religiones y la Comida, ed. Perry Schmidt-Leukel, trans. Lluís Miralles
de Imperial Llobet (Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 2002).
77
For a further reading on ecology, religion, and genre, see Ivone Gebara, Intuiciones
Ecofeministas: Ensayo para Repensar el Conocimiento y la Religión (Madrid: Editorial
Trotta, 2000).
78
See e.g. Catherine Keller s arguments in her essay, The Love of Postcolonialism:
Theology and the Interstices of Empire, in Keller, Nausner, and Rivera (eds.), Postcolonial
Theologies.
44 MAKING MEXICAN MOLLI
Like the Mexican molli, the making of alimentary theology requires
faith, creativity, imagination, and God s inspiration, just as Sor Andrea
and Fray Pascual Bailón were inspired in making the baroque mole.
Alimentary theology integrates God s gift that surpasses calculation, and
is forever open to transcendence God s actuality in surplus. Alimentary
theology, like cooking a delicious molli, is not at all passive, but an
active engagement and openness to divine inspiration. It is also interest-
ing to note that both Sor Andrea and Pascual Bailón came up with the
idea of the molli in the midst of pressure and anxiety, even chaos.
Likewise, alimentary theology often results from uncalculated actions, a
sudden event that arises from a divine donor (God s plenitudinous
sharing); and sometimes even from chaotic contexts, as church histori-
ans remind us. With the reception of divine inspiration we do not know
the full implication of what has been inspired. But this, of course, requires
deep discernment in faith, and also a continuous practice of charity,
situated within the landscape of hope.
In the making of Doña Soledad s mole, nothing was more satisfying
than the moment when it was finally shared among friends in a big,
convivial fiesta. As was discovered by many of the dinner guests at my
farewell party, the experience of savoring this ancient dish was truly
ecstatic. I would like to add that, for me in particular, this experience of
preparing, sharing, and eating molli increased my awareness of a com-
munal sense of ecstasy, for it truly opened a horizon of new ways of
understanding self and other.
From a perspective of alimentary theology I would like to explore this
notion of understanding further, and argue that there is a special connec-
tion between savoring and cognition, and that this is a connection that
becomes more evident through eating. If this is so, one could also argue
that knowledge displays a dimension of participation in the known via
the senses most particularly by touch and taste at the moment of eating
and drinking. And what of growing in understanding of God? Could
one also say that knowing God implies a dimension of savoring, which
then might imply as well an aspect of participation in God? This form of
cognition might resemble the mystics experiences of God that are often
reported to be intensely somatic, even erotic. This alchemy of divine
understanding, this eros of cognition is, then, an aspect that alimentary
theology will now explore in the next chapter.79
79
The term eros of cognition is borrowed from Philip Blond s introduction to id.
(ed.), Post-Secular Philosophy: Between Philosophy and Theology (London: Routledge,
1998).
2
Sabor/Saber : Taste and the Eros
of Cognition
Pedro, hearing [Tita] from the living room, experienced a sensation
that was new to him. The sound of the pans bumping against each
other, the smell of the almonds browning in the griddle, the sound
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