Legal but not Licit: Customary Foodways as Banned Markers of Religious Identity between Muslims and non-Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean

Senses, Religion, and Religious Encounter: Literature Review and Research Perspectives

“…6 However, transcendent beings or forces are also depicted as touching humans, sometimes mediated through laying-on-of hands by a religious expert, or other conduits (Witte 2011). 7 In some cases, it is not clear who or what initiates the touching, but proximity or direct physical contact with a holy or evil person, living or dead, or an object or space associated with them, may convey blessing (baraka, within the Judeo-Muslim tradition), torment within the grave, or death, in the case of unfriendly spirits (Meri 1999;Horowitz 1999;Cuffel 2008). 8 "[T]o talk of 'being touched' can extend the vagaries of touch even wider into the emotional, the intangible and the metaphoric" (MacKian 2012, 253).…”

“…As already mentioned earlier, in a number of cultures, pleasant fragrance or the lack of [26] smell served as a marker of holiness and spiritual accomplishment, whereas foul smell was an indicator of false religion, heresy, and the demonic, respectively (Green 2011;Sizgorich 2008;Harvey 2006;Cuffel 2007;Halevi 2011;Kugle 2007, 65;Tolan 1998;Classen, Howes, and Synnott 1994, 52;Brown 1988, 5-8, 26-28. 85-86, 92-102, 293-303).…”

“…Regularly in religious texts, the adoption or retention of foodways that are technically not forbidden yet still associated with the practices of members of another religious community are censured. Here, rather like the modern argumentation regarding Muslim women's clothing, foodways which are not the same as those practiced by the groups in power are seen as threatening or problematic (Cuffel 2017).…”