Food and Modernity in Post-Vatican II Catholicism: Herman Zaccarelli and The Food Research Center for Catholic Institutions (FRCCI)

This paper tells the story of a Catholic monk named Herman Zaccarelli who saw an opening in post-World War II Catholic America for the updating and modernizing of food in religious institutions. At this time Vatican II, a theological movement of monumental proportions, created great change for Catholics worldwide, not only in religious practice but in everyday culture, including food. Brother Herman founded a research center in 1961 on the campus of Stonehill College outside of Boston, MA, which ran conferences and seminars for monks and nuns that sought to change their approach to cooking and eating. Zaccarelli, a product of mid-twentieth century American cultural ideas and mores, grounded his efforts in religious obligation and located the change he sought within the “spirit of Vatican II.” Many of the new ideas and practices ran counter to long-held habits and rituals regarding food—habits of restraint, asceticism and sacrifice, which set up intergenerational tensions. This story focused on food illustrates these larger tensions and transformations in post-WWII American Catholicism.