Lourdes : town of prayer and divine food

Abstract

In this paper, we will analyse the various foods and beverages offered at Lourdes as a centre of pilgrimage. The food aspect in Lourdes is a multifaceted topic, containing several extreme contrasts, uniting and dividing the diverse plumage of pilgrims. We will also argue that both the longing for divine food, satisfiable at the Grotto, and food divine, available in the adjacent town centre, are two sides of the same medal. Food experience in Lourdes is both an active and a passive agency, whereby many malades, the sick pilgrim-patients in the Accueill, the pilgrims’ hospital(ity) unit, are on a strict dietary regime, while those pilgrims on an organized pilgrimage, staying on full board in a hotel, are catered for by a varied menu of mass-produced foods. Some nuns prepare and distribute food to beggars at no costs. On the other hand, there is also a gastronomical Lourdes, a delicatesse Lourdes. The town is situated in the Pyrenees, a region with a solid reputation of producing excellent foods and wines. Since a pilgrimage to Lourdes is also about celebrating life, this calls for comfort food. Pilgrims are thus benefitting from great food. This is not disapproved of by the Church or regarded as a sin, but as being part of the pilgrimage’s healing process. This apparent contrast makes Lourdes also a place less understood and discussing in detail the way of food in Lourdes, will possibly lead to a greater understanding of the phenomenon of Lourdes, a place where seemingly the sacred and the profane are intimately linked through food and beverage. It has seemingly been decided or understood by the secular world, that a pilgrimage to Lourdes, motivated or necessitated by health-related issues, should be of an austere and ascetic nature. Food outlets in Lourdes are inescapable and serve a distinct purpose in the pilgrimage dynamic.