A New Generation Redefines Mormon Cuisine JUSTIN SOELBERG, the chef at Communal restaurant in Provo, Utah, has heard all the jokes about Mormon food. "People think it's just casseroles and Jell-O all the time," said Mr. Soelberg, 30, who grew up Mormon in Idaho and graduated from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan. "The basic dinner was meat in cream-of-something soup on mashed something," said Kate Jones, 31, a food blogger who grew up in Utah and now lives in Louisiana. Even in Park City, where the Sundance Film Festival began last week, Mr. Soelberg acknowledged, "No one comes to Utah for the food." With Mitt Romney's candidacy for the White House, Americans are newly curious about all the traditions of the church he has done so much to support. The Mormon culinary tradition is hard to pin down, but today it is rapidly evolving. Mr. Soelberg, who was raised on his grandmother's cooking on a cattle ranch near Boise, Idaho, says that "Mormon food" should be seen as part of a larger Western tradition of hearty meals, seasonal eating and food preservation that is in keeping with modern farm-to-table ideals. And as the church has widened its membership, there are more Mormon cooks to redefine the stereotype. "Once you have lived outside the "Utah bubble," you can't go back to that food," he said. Rachael Hutchings, 31, the mother of two young daughters, has spent three years living in Japan. She now lives in Corona, Calif., and blogs about food (she is expert in Japanese home cooking and indulgent desserts) at lafujimama.com. Mrs. Hutchings has never lived in Utah, although her roots, like those of many American Mormons, are there. She said that church cookbooks and women's church groups like the Relief Society helped to make some Utah dishes ubiquitous, but now horizons are broadening rapidly. The church says it has 14 million members worldwide. "There are more and more people like me," she said. As the church becomes more international, that Utah Mormon food is no longer the standard. Mr. Soelberg and Mrs. Hutchings belong to a new generation of cooks (mostly women, although men are cooking more) who are interested in redefining Mormon food for their generation. Sara Wells, 32, Ms. Jones's partner at ourbestbites.com, said that Mormon home cooks are unusually adept in the kitchen by modern standards. "We still have these basic homemaking skills, which have lost luster in mainstream society," she said. But we really believe that it's important work, providing comfort and nourishment to the family and the community. The tradition of a home-cooked family dinner after church on Sunday is alive and well, and all kinds of celebrations and meetings are accompanied by cookies, casseroles and cake. It takes 13 Mormons to change a light bulb, goes one joke, Mrs. Wells said: one to change the bulb and a dozen to bring the refreshments. "I can't think of a Mormon gathering that doesn't include food," she said. Official doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do not forbid any foods; according to current teachings, only coffee, tea and alcohol are explicitly prohibited. Many younger cooks use wine in cooking (in the belief that the alcohol is cooked off) and wine vinegar in salad dressings. Mormonism is a young religion, born in the 1830s, leaving little time for food traditions to evolve. Its food doesn't reflect one particular ethnic identity, or a region other than the Wasatch Front, the sere realms of northern Utah and southern Idaho where church leaders put down roots in the 1840s. Later, agricultural settlements stretched north and south from Salt Lake City, planting a "Mormon corridor" that still runs from Idaho to Mexico. Food was rarely plentiful in the early years, families were large, and all households tithed at least 10 percent to the church, so women were strongly encouraged to develop cooking and budget-management skills. Being industrious and hardworking is highly prized in Mormon culture (the beehive is a symbol of the church), and for women, cooking provides a real sense of identity and daily purpose. In the 1960s, Mormon women (like most Americans) enthusiastically embraced inexpensive convenience foods like canned fruit, instant potatoes and, of course, Jell-O. "For some reason, the Utah Mormons took longer to come out of that phase," said Christy Spackman, 34, a doctoral student in food studies at N.Y.U. Ms. Spackman says that in her congregation, in Brooklyn, the tradition of socializing with food and sharing recipes is just as strong as it was when she was growing up in Logan, Utah. Only the recipes have changed. "Now the recipe is more likely to be a grapefruit curd or a new kind of granola bar than a casserole," she said. Recipes, like one for homemade yogurt, "spread like wildfire" in the community, she said. At age 19, most Mormon men and some women spend two years abroad working as missionaries - a custom that has given many a lingering taste for kimchi or Camembert. In Brazil, Mrs. Wells discovered a passion for dulce de leche, mangoes and black beans. Most Mormon women, even those who pursue advanced degrees and careers, still marry and start families in their early 20s, and stay home with their young children.