(Images courtesy of Keep the Feast Blog)

Publishing a blog that offers the rather unique combination of food and theology may seem surprising, but it comes naturally to Alice Kearney Alwin, publisher of the Keep the Feast Blog. She earned a Masters degree at the Yale School of Divinity and now teaches religion at the Marymount School in Manhattan. In addition to her writing she operates the Happy Lambs Catering Company.

Food often brings thoughts of faith and values to her mind. In one item Alice reflected on Dorothy Day, the American reformer, journalist and founder of the Catholic Worker, who “welcomed in the poor with coffee and apple butter sandwiches on Mott Street” in New York City. Ms. Day once pointed out, “People say, ‘What is the sense of our small effort?’ They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.”

Don’t let Alice’s thoughtful ruminations on faith lead you to believe hers is a stuffy approach to religion. She is an enthusiastic advocate of feasting in celebration of her faith. She wrote on her website, “Fasting is good for the soul, but not for this blog.”

We sat down with Alice at Andre’s Café on Second Avenue in Manhattan to hear more about her mixing cooking, writing and teaching, and enjoyed some of Andre’s luscious pastries.

She told us her journey to blogging began when she developed a course at the Yale School of Divinity that combined food and theology. Part of her course work was the preparation and serving of meals, or more accurately feasts, to bring together members of the community. She found that when people shared a great meal together, differences in opinions got set aside and the community became stronger. They had a lot of fun too.

Alice has a lot of energy, so the success of her feasts at Yale was bound to inspire more activity on her part. She began the Keep the Feast Blog this past June. “I wanted to write more…and more consistently,” she said. Along with recipes accompanied by her photography she offers lively accounts of her adventures in cooking and serving food.

Alice traces her festive approach to faith to scripture. As she explained at Andre’s Café, “Christianity is a reason to feast. Every Sunday is the Feast of the Resurrection.” Sunday mass involves a sacrament with bread and wine, “If it was bread and water it wouldn’t be the same.”

Alice keeps in mind that John said, "Live abundantly." In her faith the liturgical calendar is a series of feasts and those celebrations should be joyous ones. Thus the presence of cocktail recipes on her website.

How does she manage to keep up with teaching full-time, writing, cooking and marriage? She says it has been worth all the effort and her husband “is very understanding and totally supportive.” Sounds like a match made in heaven.

If you’d like to visit Alice’s blog go to: Keep the Feast