Bake & Pray
An online workshop with Author Kendall Vanderslice
Join this 2-hour virtual seminar with author Kendall Vanderslice, who writes about the intersection of faith, food, and culture (you can read her bio below). She'll walk us, step by step, through a simple liturgy while baking a loaf of bread. She'll explain more about the role that bread plays in scripture. She'll introduce us to some new ways of looking at the food we eat and the way we prepare it.
Who is this for?
Anyone who desires a quiet, creative space for reflecting on faith. Anyone who loves to bake and host and wonders how God fits into that. Anyone who prays best while their hands are busy working. Anyone looking for a chance to learn in community. Any leader looking for a chance to be refreshed spiritually. Anyone hosting Easter dinner and hoping to learn to bake before then.
Participants will receive a package of ingredients and materials for the seminar during the week of April 3. You'll need a computer or phone that can access Zoom, a clean workspace or countertop, and a warm beverage to enjoy while you listen. Your loaf will be done at 4:30 and should rest overnight (or up to 48 hours) and you can bake it on Monday or Tuesday. Families are welcome to participate together.
About Kendall
Hello! I’m Kendall Vanderslice – yes, before you ask, that is my true name.
It’s just by chance (or the humor of God) that I ended up in a field so fitting. I’m a baker and writer, whose best thinking occurs as I work dough between my hands; I scribble down thoughts on pieces of parchment dusted in flour, until I can parse them out later before my keyboard. When I embarked on a career as a pastry chef, I found that my love of bread transformed the ways I read scripture. Fascinated by God’s use of food throughout the arc of the Gospel, I merged my work in the kitchen with academic study of food and theology.
I founded the educational nonprofit Edible Theology as an outlet for further research and public engagement in this sphere.
I’m a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois (BA Anthropology), where I began engaging questions of food and faith. Interested in commensality—or, the social dynamics of eating together—I studied food at Boston University (MLA Gastronomy). My thesis on church meals sparked a range of theological questions, leading me to Duke University where I wrote a thesis on the theology of bread (MTS). In 2018 I was named a James Beard Foundation national scholar for my work on food and religion.
My first book, We Will Feast: Rethinking Dinner, Worship, and the Community of God, released May 2019. My second book, on bread, is forthcoming with Tyndale in spring 2023.