Why do Roman Catholic communion hosts taste different in different cities?

Question

My nine year old daughter came back from receiving communion at my brother's church in Troy over the holiday weekend and said the host tasted differently than the host where we go to church in southern New Jersey. How could this be? Isn't this the same Body of Christ? Do they somehow transubstantiate a different Jesus with a different flavor?

Answer 1

While the host does indeed transubstantiate into the Body of Christ, do not forget that the host also maintains it's original physical characteristics as well.

Therefore, whatever the host tasted like before the consecration, it's still going to have that same taste after consecration.

The most likely explanation for the different tastes is the probability that the two Catholic parishes in question probably purchase their Commuion hosts from different manufactures.

Answer 2

Your nine-year-old daughter was either imagining a difference in taste or doesn't have a skilled enough palate to discern the taste of two identical things served at two vastly different times or the parish keeps the bread in some wine so that the Host she received was both Body and Blood or she had a slight cold that particular day or some other such thing.

But I think you are being facetious.

Answer 3

Jesus used Matza (unleavened) bread, according to the Jewish usage for Passover. Communion bread is also unleavened, and baked in small portions called Hosts or Communion Wafers. They are a practical or convenient way of distributing the bread.

The flavor may differ due to the different utensils used. I know of a nun who was enthusiastic because her order had just purchased a new, improved communion wafer maker, imported from France.

Answer 4

Bread is bread no matter how it's prepared, at the time of the last supper was the feast of the unleavened bread so most catholic churches use wheat and water bread, protestant churches have no rule on what type of bread is used. Flavor or taste is unimportant it's the communion we hold among us and obedience to take the bread as remembrance of him who died and rose from the dead so that we may be forgiven of our sins.

Answer 5

Actually, Communion Hosts are to be made from "unleavened wheat flour and water". Since the makers of the "wafers" vary in their methods (thick, thin, whole wheat, bleached flour) - there can indeed be a different taste from parish to parish.

Answer 6

As other s have correctly stated it depends on which company or monastery makes the BREAD. Lets get away from calling it a 'wafer' it has everything that a normal piece of bread has except yeast - therefore - unleavened BREAD. The same bread that Christ used in the Last Supper.

Answer 7

No matter where I've been the Eucharist has always "tasted" the same to me. Of course I have never considered the taste of it anyway. However, some parishes have started obtaining "Gluten" free, wheat free hosts since some people are allergic to the wheat and/or gluten in bread. This may have changed the "taste".

Answer 8

I would presume different companies make different Communion wafers in different cities. Personally, I wish they would just use bread, because wafers taste like cardboard.

Answer 9

I'm not sure if this question is a joke or not but I'll answer it anyways. It's probably because they use different kinds(or brands) of bread wafers. Or they could have just let it sit out too long and it got stale.

Answer 10

The host is not the body of Christ it is a man-made item. You forget what's written in Scripture that taking bread was to be done in remembrance - not by experiencing the ingestion of his actual flesh.