Mormons in the context of "Mormon foodways"

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⭐ Core Definition: Mormons

Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the Second Great Awakening. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several groups following different leaders; the majority followed Brigham Young, while smaller groups followed Sidney Rigdon and James Strang. Many who did not follow Young eventually merged into the Community of Christ, led by Smith’s son, Joseph Smith III. The term Mormon typically refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest branch, which followed Brigham Young. People who identify as Mormons may also be independently religious, secular, and non-practicing or belong to other denominations.

Since 2018, the LDS Church has expressed the desire that its followers be referred to as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or just members, if the identity of the church is made clear previously in the context, as the term Mormon can be considered offensive by the community.

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👉 Mormons in the context of Mormon foodways

Mormon foodways encompass the traditional food and drink surrounding the religious and social practices of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and other churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, colloquially referred to as Mormons. The Word of Wisdom prohibits Mormons from consuming alcohol, coffee, and tea. These restrictions began to be observed more closely in the 20th century. Traditionally, members are encouraged to fast two meals during the first Sunday of each month.

LDS foodways in Nauvoo, Illinois, were similar to surrounding frontier foodways. Brock Cheney argues that Mormon foodways in the west were distinct from those of miners, Native Americans, and other non-Mormons in the same area. Mormons used seasonal harvests, foraged food, and their New England and European backgrounds to make food. Mormon pioneers (hereafter referred to as "pioneers") used spices and tried to breed varieties of fruit, especially apples and peaches, that were well-suited to the surrounding climate. Pioneers learned what to forage from indigenous tribes, and relied on foraging in years of famine. They made their own sweeteners. Pioneers preserved fruit by drying it or canning it. They ate bread frequently, and communally butchered meat, which was preserved through smoking. Many pioneers immigrated from Europe, and brought food traditions from there, including making cheese and sauerkraut.

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Mormons in the context of Gentile

Gentile (/ˈɛntl/) is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term gentile to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synonym for pagan. As a term used to describe non-members of a religious/ethnic group, gentile is sometimes compared to other words used to describe the "outgroup" in other cultures (see List of terms for ethnic out-groups).

In some translations of the Quran, gentile is used to translate an Arabic word that refers to non-Jews and/or people not versed in or not able to read scripture.

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Mormons in the context of Christian right

The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation of the teachings of Christianity.

In the United States, the Christian right (otherwise known as the New Christian Right or the Religious Right) is an informal coalition which was formed around a core of conservative Evangelical Protestants and conservative Roman Catholics. The Christian right draws additional support from politically conservative mainline Protestants, Orthodox Jews, and Mormons. The movement in American politics became a dominant feature of U.S. conservatism from the late 1970s onwards. The Christian right gained powerful influence within the Republican Party during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Its influence draws from grassroots activism as well as from focus on social issues and the ability to motivate the electorate around those issues.

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Mormons in the context of Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.

Collectively, these churches have almost 18 million nominal members, including over 17 million belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), 250,000 in Community of Christ, and several other denominations with memberships generally ranging in the thousands of members. The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism, which sees itself as restoring again on Earth the early Christian church; their members are most commonly known as Mormons. An additional doctrine of the church allows for prophets to receive and publish modern-day revelations.

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Mormons in the context of San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino (/ˌsæn ˌbɜːrnəˈdn/ SAN BUR-nə-DEE-noh) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the 18th-most populous city in California. The Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan area at 4.74 million residents is the 12th-largest metropolitan area in the nation. San Bernardino is the economic, cultural, and political hub of the San Bernardino Valley, sharing that distinction for the wider Inland Empire with its twin city of Riverside.

San Bernardino was named in 1810, when Spanish priest Francisco Dumetz led an expedition through the area. In 1839, the Mexican government granted Californio ranchero José del Carmen Lugo the right to settle the area, which was formalized when he was granted Rancho San Bernardino in 1842. Following the American Conquest of California, the largely unsettled rancho was purchased by Mormon settlers who founded the town of San Bernardino in 1851, later incorporated as a city in 1854. After most of the Mormons left in 1857, the city grew significantly in the late 19th century as a commercial hub at the crossroads between Southern California and the American Southwest. Today, San Bernardino is an important hub for the Inland Empire and Southern California. The governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico have established the metropolitan area's only consulates in the downtown area. Furthermore, the city's University District serves as a college town, as home to California State University, San Bernardino.

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Mormons in the context of Zion National Park

Zion National Park is a national park of the United States located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of life zones that allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. The lowest point in the park is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest peak is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile (590 km) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to 2,640 ft (800 m) deep. The canyon walls are reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone eroded by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The park attracted 4,946,592 visitors in 2024.


Human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans, one of which was the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Ancestral Puebloans (who used to be called Anasazi by early non-indigenous archeologists) (c. 300 CE). Subsequently, what has been called the Virgin Anasazi culture (c. 500) and the Parowan Fremont group developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s.

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Mormons in the context of 1838 Mormon War

The 1838 Mormon War, also known as the Missouri Mormon War, was a series of armed conflicts between Mormons (Latter Day Saints) and other settlers in northern Missouri during the summer and fall of 1838. Initially characterized by mutual vigilante violence, it escalated into direct intervention by the Missouri state militia. The conflict concluded with the issuance of the Missouri Executive Order 44, which mandated the extermination or the expulsion of the Mormons from the state.

Early Latter Day Saints settled in Missouri driven by religious revelations instructing them to "gather" in Kirtland, Ohio, and Jackson County, Missouri. Facing increasing hostility from neighboring settlers, an 1833 crisis resulted in their forceful eviction from Jackson County by vigilantes. The Missouri legislature created Caldwell County in 1836 as a "compromise" for displaced Mormon settlers; however, the relocation of Mormon leaders from Kirtland in early 1838 intensified fears of Mormon consolidation and expansion in the state.

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