Loop for a specific category for homepage

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For my homepage I want to display posts for a specific category (for example category “food”) instead of the default display of all posts.

How can this be accomplished? Is it true that I am supposed to use wp_query() and avoid query_posts()?
Also, will I need to reset with wp_reset_postdata(); for this loop in index.php ?

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I have read codex and googled around, but still am not confident with altering the Loop.

I thought the code below would work but I get White Screen of death in WordPress Themes 2012 and 2013. I replaced the code in index.php with 

<?php
$query = new WP_Query('cat=1');
if ($query->have_posts()) :
    while ($query->have_posts()) : $query->the_post();
        the_title();
    endwhile;
endif;
?>

Edit:

White Screen of Death was due to a missing ?> elsewhere in my index.php file. Noob mistake. But now I am having issues with pagination. Page 2 displays the same posts as page 1. What could be wrong?

My code for pagination inside functions.php 

if ( ! function_exists( 'my_pagination' ) ) :
    function my_pagination() {
        global $wp_query;
        $big = 999999999; // need an unlikely integer   
        echo paginate_links( array(
             'base' => str_replace( $big, '%#%', esc_url( get_pagenum_link( $big ) ) ), 
             'format' => '?paged=%#%',
             'current' => max( 1, get_query_var('paged') ), 
             'prev_next'    => True,
             'total' => $wp_query->max_num_pages
        ) );
}

.
.
Edit:

I used Pieter Goosen’s solution below. Problems fixed.

Post Views: 1

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2 comments

  1. You should not change the main query for a custom query on the home page or any archive page. Custom queries is meant for secondary content, not to display your main content. I have done a very detailed post on this matter on WPSE which you can check out here. It also covers a bit why you should never use query_posts.

    To solve your problem, delete your custom query from your index.php, and just add the default loop back like

    if(have_posts()){
   while(have_posts()) {
     the_post();

     //YOUR LOOP ELEMENTS

   }
}

    You will now again see all posts on your home page. To only show the selected category on your homepage, use pre_get_post to alter the main query before it is executed. Add this to your functions.php

    function show_only_category( $query ) {
    if ( $query->is_home() && $query->is_main_query() ) {
        $query->set( 'cat', '1' );
    }
}
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', 'show_only_category' );

    This will sort out your pagination problem as well

    EDIT

    For the sake of SO users, I have reposted my answer from WPSE to this question by same OP

  2. <?php
    get_header(); ?>

    <div id="container">
        <div id="content" role="main">

        <?php
            $categories = get_categories(); //get all the categories

            foreach ($categories as $category) {
                $category_id= $category->term_id; ?>

                <div><?php echo $category->name ?></div>

                <?php
                    query_posts("category=$category_id&posts_per_page=100");

                    if (have_posts()) {
                        while (have_posts()) {
                            the_post(); ?>

                <a href="<?php the_permalink();?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a>

                            <?php }
                        }
                    }
            } ?>

        </div>
    </div>