Although most people envision monks subsisting on a diet of bread, water, and thin gruel, the reality these days is very different. While researching their Sanctuaries guides, Marcia Kelly and her husband, Jack, visited more than 250 monasteries and retreat centers in the United States, and Heavenly Feasts is a collection of delicious meals from these places.Here are recipes from Mennonites, Episcopalians, Benedictines, Zen Buddhists, Hindus, Trappists, Theravadin Buddhists, Quakers, Franciscans, and would-be Ancient Egyptians. They include a breakfast of cheese grits and sour cream-cinnamon cake from St. Mary's Episcopal Retreat and Conference Center in Sewanee, Tennessee; a traditional Japanese breakfast of genmai (brown rice and vegetable stew) and gomasio (sesame seasoning) from the New Orleans Zen Temple; a tropical supper of lime stew, green papaya coleslaw, and mango ice cream prepared by the followers of Hindu saint Sathya Sai Baba at Falkynor Farm in Davie, Florida; a Quaker summer menu of chicken with orange and walnuts, baked yams, and green beans from Pendle Hill in Wallingford, Pennsylvania; a monk's meal of corn chowder, cabbage and polenta, and Brother Ambrose's biscuits from Thomas Merton's Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Kentucky; a Fourth of July barbecue from Rose Hill in Aiken, South Carolina, of slow-roasted pig with mustard sauce, South Carolina hash, and chocolate pear tart; and a hearty weekday lunch of tamale pie with salsa, barley-corn salad, and applesauce cake with butterscotch icing from the Wellspring Renewal Center in Philo, California. Read Less