This article reviews some of the ways in which food intersects with religion and argues that people’s religious food habits prepare them to critically engage the food they eat. Religious food guidance is presented through five categories: permanent food restrictions, temporary food restrictions, food offerings, charity, and food for special occasions. The underlying rationale behind these food habits, and religion in general, allows religious people to be fully engaged in current discussions about how to align eating with best practices globally.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Desjardins, M., (2025), "Religious food guidance", HSSCommons: (DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v9i1.514)

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1. Buddhists
2. charity
3. Christians
4. community
5. fasting
6. food
7. Hindus
8. Jains
9. Jewish
10. Meat
11. Muslims
12. offerings
13. religion
14. religious
15. restrictions

Original publication: Desjardins, Michel. "Religious food guidance." Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation, vol. 9, no. 1, 2022. DOI: 10.15353/cfs-rcea.v9i1.514. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation. Copyright © the author(s). Work published in CFS/RCÉA prior to and including Vol. 8, No. 3 (2021) is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY license. Work published in Vol. 8, No. 4 (2021) and after is licensed under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. For details, see creativecommons.org/licenses/.