Moravian American Food

The Moravian community began in Czechoslovakia as followers of the fifteenth-century Protestant Jan Hus. During the eighteenth century a German contingent established the first American community in Savannah, Georgia, spreading to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the north, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the south, and eventually the Midwest. By the early nineteenth century the Moravians included blacks and Indians. The late twentieth century saw a general increase of American growth and achieved a reputation for its unity, repeating the often-quoted proclamation of Saint Augustine (354–430 CE), “In essentials unity, In non-essentials liberty, In all things Love.” The Moravian creed uses the Bible as the central guide to faith and conduct, which they emphasize over doctrine. Full church membership requires only a voluntary profession of faith, the focus of which was church, family, and work.