Food as blessing, table as altar

Have you ever noticed how people these days eat their food? Invariably either with their eyes on a ubiquitous handheld device or reading a newspaper, or in animated conversation or lost in thought. And in all cases with little attention to what is being eaten. So, rice is eaten without sparing a thought that it is God’s blessing; how else can one describe the phenomenon that what is being eaten is the result of 100 to 180 days from planting to harvest—it needs irrigation and water management, weed and pest control. Thereafter, threshing, drying, and milling are the further steps before we get rice fit to eat. If it is parboiled rice, which is popular in the south, additional steps are involved. Wheat takes 100 to 130 days from cultivation; flour is obtained thereafter after several processes like conditioning, separating, and milling. Lentils, another staple diet, take up to 80-100 days. That most popular of vegetables, the potato, takes as much as 90-120 days to grow, as does the onion, another essential item for Indian cuisine. The very many harvest festivals observed, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Baisakhi, and Bihu, are an acknowledgement of God’s blessings.

Yet we shovel our food into our mouths without a thought—forget savouring and enjoying what we are eating. All this despite any number of studies that demonstrate that mindful eating helps in better digestion. The scriptures highlight mindful eating. Mindful eating is about engaging your senses, about establishing harmony between body and soul.

Leaving food on your plate has also become routine—it is an act bordering on criminality given the poverty all around us. When you are eating mindfully, you would take on your plate only what you can finish. You are conscious about wastage. More critically, food eaten mindlessly results in you failing to appreciate God for His immense bounty; you fail to appreciate the farmer who toils to put the grains on our table. And perhaps worst of all, you also fail to appreciate the person who has cooked the meal—if it is your better half, remember there is a lot of tender loving care that has gone into the food. If it is your cook, a little kindness does not hurt. As has been said, you are not just what you eat; you are also how you eat. 

Gone are the days when we used to start or end our meals, or both, with a prayer of thanks. Eat slowly and mindfully, and be grateful to the Maker for the food on the table. Gratitude helps you enjoy your food more—and will ensure you do not waste food.