[shabbasuraj]

Wafers sold as snacks showing mass appeal
Quebeckers find nostalgia in 'Host Pieces'
By INGRID PERITZ
Tuesday, December 27, 2005 Posted at 5:09 AM EST
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail



MONTREAL — Is nothing sacred in Quebec any more? The answer may lie on the grocery-store shelves of the province, next to the chips, corn puffs, and salty party pretzels.
That's where shoppers can pick up an increasingly popular snack: communion wafers and sheets of communion bread. These paper-thin morsels made from flour and water hark back to Quebec's churchgoing days and the sacred rite of receiving holy communion.
But in today's secular Quebec, the wafers and bread are packaged like peanuts and popcorn - and sold as a distinctly profane snack.
"They melt in your mouth, and they're not fattening, so it's better than junk food," said Françoise Laporte, a white-haired grandmother of 71 who buys packages of Host Pieces at her local IGA in east-end Montreal. "I'm Catholic. This reminds us of mass."


For older Quebeckers, the snacks offer up a form of nostalgia. Surprisingly, however, they're also finding favour with a younger generation that has rarely, if ever, set foot inside a church.
"My son can eat a whole bag while he's watching TV," Paul Saumure, a manager at another IGA store, said of his 22-year-old. "He's had more of them outside of church than he ever did inside one."
The snacks have been available in stores for years, but the erstwhile holy items are enjoying a second life as a health food. Gaston Bonneau, one of the two major commercial producers in Quebec, says his business started with just himself and his wife in the mid-1980s. Now it's grown to 16 employees and he plans to automate production.
He says his wafers and sheets of "host cuttings" aren't sacred - after all, they haven't been consecrated by a priest or minister in a religious service. Still, the unmistakably sacred imagery seems to strike a chord.
"It's one of those rare items that's still around from the old days . . . everyone had them at some point," he said from his office in Quebec City.
But nostalgia can get you only so far. Contemporary concerns about eating a healthier diet help, he said.
"When you eat chips there's all the fat and salt. You eat a bag of host cuttings and there's none," Mr. Bonneau said. "You might have high blood pressure or a cholesterol problem. It's not exactly crunchy granola stuff, but it is natural."
The conversion of a communion wafer into a munchie-style snack is not entirely surprising in a province that has turned its back on religious practise. Quebec has gone from being one of the most devout enclaves in North America to one of the most secular. In Montreal, churches are being refitted as condominiums and religious statuettes are sold as home decor items in antique shops.
In Quebec filmmaker Denys Arcand's award-winning Les Invasions Barbares, a Catholic priest shows off a basement full of religious items in hopes of luring the interest of an auctioneer, only to be told they're worthless.
Still, not everyone is comfortable watching a symbol of Quebec's religious heritage morph into a snack food. After all, holy communion is one of the most essential Christian sacraments that for believers symbolizes spiritual union with the body of Christ.
"People are snacking on hosts and host pieces like it's candy. They're not distinguishing between the body of Christ and something you nibble on at home," said François Trudel, a former Catholic missionary familiar with the production of communion wafers in Quebec.
"Like everything these days, we're throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We don't respect anything. Nothing is sacred."
Traditionally, communion wafers were made by religious communities. The unleavened bread left over after the wafers were cut out was sold by monasteries to their parishioners.
A handful of Quebec monasteries still produce hosts and sell the leftover unblessed bread. A visitor can gain entry past the thick stone walls of the Carmelite monastery in Montreal's Plateau Mont Royal district and, for $5, buy a plain brown bag of wafer bread from an elderly nun.
The transaction takes place in hushed tones. The image of Carmelite nun St. Thérèse of Lisieux gazes out from a large photo on the wall.
There are no cash registers, no lineups and no lottery tickets are for sale. It may be the same combination of bread and water, but it feels like a long way from the Twinkies aisle.

[Dakar]

If there's one thing from Catholic school I remember its that I enjoyed the tatse, would have eaten them like potato chips if I could have.

[Pendergast]

ROFL!

That business has been running for at least 40 years. Nothing new here.



But heck, you should have some poutine, the original recipe, if you want something from "le terroir". Or may I suggest some "tourtière du lac St-Jean" with some homemade beans? And how about some "pâté chinois"? Hmmm!

Better: some "guédille au homard", or "soupe aux gourganes"?

Man, you could discover so much more sacred food from Québec!

[Shaddim]

It's only a little bread, and it's not like it's been consecrated or anything. I can't see what the commotion's all about.

[Pendergast]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

It's only a little bread, and it's not like it's been consecrated or anything. I can't see what the commotion's all about.

It's just another occasion for the Globe an Mail to increase the famous divide between the "two solitudes".

And you are totally right MacNStein. Much ado about nothing.

Best wishes for the Hollidays to you.

[cmeisenzahl]

At best, they're unconsecrated and it's in VERY poor taste. At worst, they are consecrated and it's horribly sacrilegous for a Catholic to be even remotely associated with anything like that.

[Pendergast]

Originally Posted by cmeisenzahl

At best, they're unconsecrated and it's in VERY poor taste. At worst, they are consecrated and it's horribly sacrilegous for a Catholic to be even remotely associated with anything like that.

Well,

That was invented by Catholics, and used for Catholics mostly. Quebec's population has been a heavy majority of Catholics since the beggining of the colony. The Catholics of Quebec have been doing this for several generation. Religion has not much to do with this.

By the way, this type of food has also been promoted by some promoters who advertised it as if it had been leftovers from some "religious" fabrication process, but turned out it was not. It still is not much of a story, except to feed more hatred and prejudice about Québécois. By the way, some bakeries do those and give them away to the Church. The leftovers used to be sold fro almost nothing, or given away.

The best reaction is to look at it and smile.



The concern is the one about "big business" taking over a market that convents and some parish have had for several generations for their survival. They just can't compete.

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by cmeisenzahl

At best, they're unconsecrated and it's in VERY poor taste. At worst, they are consecrated and it's horribly sacrilegous for a Catholic to be even remotely associated with anything like that.

I can't see how they'd be consecrated, it's not like a priest was standing at the end of the ass'y line performing the Holy Eucharist. Again, this isn't Corpus Domini, it's just bread.

[olePigeon]

In other news: Hungarians are still eating bread.

[Dark Helmet]

Aren't they like flavourless Pringles?

[Rolling Bones]

I like that beer with devil in a canoe floating in the air. Man, those quebecerz.

[Pendergast]

Originally Posted by Rolling Bones

I like that beer with devil in a canoe floating in the air. Man, those quebecerz.

Cheapest thing ever on gas.



But you need a Devil to make it work...

[Monique]

They actually taste like vanilla or ice cream cones. I used to eat the unblessed one which is in a religious sense worthless until a priest bless them. It is not a big deal.

[undotwa]

Originally Posted by MacNStein

I can't see how they'd be consecrated, it's not like a priest was standing at the end of the ass'y line performing the Holy Eucharist. Again, this isn't Corpus Domini, it's just bread.

That is true, but I bet most people couldn't tell the difference. Also, since Catholics believe (or used to believe) that Holy Communion is the greatest sacrament and since the hosts resemble the ones used in mass, it could be said that by selling these hosts as 'snack foods' you are in effect mocking the sacrament and being disrespectful.

[Pendergast]

Originally Posted by undotwa

That is true, but I bet most people couldn't tell the difference. Also, since Catholics believe (or used to believe) that Holy Communion is the greatest sacrament and since the hosts resemble the ones used in mass, it could be said that by selling these hosts as 'snack foods' you are in effect mocking the sacrament and being disrespectful.

Want some?

[Monique]

Not if they are not blessed. If they are blessed yes it would mean that you are mocking the sacrement.

[undotwa]

Originally Posted by Monique

Not if they are not blessed. If they are blessed yes it would mean that you are mocking the sacrement.

You mean 'consecrated'. Look - if they were consecrated hosts, I would be in tears. Obviously no one would ever let or dream committing such an offense to the Catholic faith. But because the snack foods have the same 'accidents' of the Catholic sacrament, without having the same 'substance', it is really an attempt to trivialise the importance of the sacrament to Catholics.

[Pendergast]

Look. It's just bread.

Christ used bread. Was Christ running around and call everyone "evil" for eating bread?

The host is a symbol, to which is attributed a meaning that refers more to the idea of getting in us some belonging to a Faith.

If we are to make a big deal out a piece of bread, w are not much better than those praying to statues or the Moon.

Now, anyone has some peanut butter left over?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by undotwa

You mean 'consecrated'. Look - if they were consecrated hosts, I would be in tears. Obviously no one would ever let or dream committing such an offense to the Catholic faith. But because the snack foods have the same 'accidents' of the Catholic sacrament, without having the same 'substance', it is really an attempt to trivialise the importance of the sacrament to Catholics.

You got to ask yourself this though undotwa. In the end, does it really make a big difference? In the grand scheme of things, is it really that big of deal?

Things like this will happen. And it will get worse.

[zizban]

Originally Posted by Kevin

You got to ask yourself this though undotwa. In the end, does it really make a big difference? In the grand scheme of things, is it really that big of deal?

Things like this will happen. And it will get worse.

It does. A concecrated host is a sacred thing to us Catholic, embodiment of Jesus. When a host is concecrated Jesus is present. Selling thse would be a major no no. Unconcecrated hosts, the communion wafers are quite good, especially with peanut butter.

[Pendergast]

Originally Posted by zizban

It does. A concecrated host is a sacred thing to us Catholic, embodiment of Jesus. When a host is concecrated Jesus is present. Selling thse would be a major no no. Unconcecrated hosts, the communion wafers are quite good, especially with peanut butter.

[Cody Dawg]

This is...just...plain weird.



What's wrong with Fritos?

[Pendergast]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

This is...just...plain weird.



What's wrong with Fritos?

Too spicy.

[undotwa]

Originally Posted by Kevin

You got to ask yourself this though undotwa. In the end, does it really make a big difference? In the grand scheme of things, is it really that big of deal?

Things like this will happen. And it will get worse.

In the grand scheme of things, no it isn't a big deal. The selling of unconsecrated communion wafers is not sacrilege in itself. It's the symbolic mockery of the sacrament which I am against. It's just in bad taste IMHO.

[undotwa]

Originally Posted by Pendergast

Look. It's just bread.

Christ used bread. Was Christ running around and call everyone "evil" for eating bread?

The host is a symbol, to which is attributed a meaning that refers more to the idea of getting in us some belonging to a Faith.

If we are to make a big deal out a piece of bread, w are not much better than those praying to statues or the Moon.

Now, anyone has some peanut butter left over?

A Catholic believes that the consecrated wafer is the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ with the accidents (physical attributes) of bread. It may look like bread, but is transubstantially the body and blood of the Lord. Whether you think it is a crazy belief or not (as many Protestants protest) you still must respect the Catholic faith. It is not respectful to mock the importance of this sacrament by selling the 'bread' which is used in the consecration as a 'snack food'.

[Pendergast]

I am Catholic.
And if you read carefully my first posts in this thread, you will understand that most people in Quebec are Catholics, and do not bother with details about this piece of bread; understandably, it is not consecrated, since that is usually done by the Priest at mass.

So let's stop making more out of nothing.

This is a non-story that fuels prejudice and exarcerbates ignorance, which has been pretty clear here in these threads, especially from the patronizers.