We live in an era of fast food — fast to cook, fast to eat as the ad goes. And we sometimes wolf down bite-sized chunks that we can eat on the run or whenever we can grab a few minutes in the middle of a busy day. Besi-des oily, oilier and oiliest; spicy, spicier and spiciest (I recently saw a brand of extra hot Thai noodles); hot, hotter and hottest seem to be the flavour of the season whenever we eat out. Stress-ed as we are, nothing less seems to awaken our jaded palates. Food has slowly become a kind of comfort factor for stressed out souls.

We seek solace in certain kinds of junk foods (chips, pop corn, chocolates, sweets and the likes) and end up overeating as well. This not only wreaks havoc with our health, it also causes damage in other ways. Agg-ressive behaviours, volatile tempers or sluggish, lethargic personalities can all be traced to the kind of food we eat. What we are forgetting here is that with the right approach food can be a very good aid to spirituality.
The body has a tremendous ability to heal itself even during illnesses, given the right kind of nourishment. Did Hippocrates not say “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food?” An Ayurvedic proverb reinforces the point, “When the diet is wrong medicine is of no use, when the diet is
correct medicine is of no need.” Rituals around food are very sacred and help to enhance its nourishing and healing properties and remove all the other impurities (not exactly the physical kind) that find their way into the food. No wonder food lovingly and caringly prepared and offered to the Gods acquires an even better taste.
Praying before a meal removes all the negative energies that the food comes with, transferred to it by the cooks, food handlers and others. Walk into any busy hotel or restaurant kitchen and you will see the kind of chaos that prevails there. Boiling cauldrons of oil, waiters screaming their lungs out, sweaty, short-fused cooks who take it out on the food they are dishing up etc. I once strayed into a club kitchen and recoiled in horror. What the people in there needed was yoga or Reiki or energy healing to calm them down or some good music to soothe their ruffled tempers.
Blessing the food before we eat it is a practice that we should try and keep up as far as possible. Chris-tians usually say grace before a meal and Hindus chant specific shlokas (for eg the one in praise of Annapurni or the Brahmar-panam mantra). The essence of the prayers is very simple. To ask God to bless the food and for us to be grateful for what we have received. One also, in all humility, acknowledges that the very food we eat is godly.
An attitude of gratitude can cause welcome shifts in a person. Be truly thankful for the food that is on your table. Everything comes from the Higher Power and in a day of food shortages and famines and failed monsoons, it is good to remember the bounties of nature at every meal not just at harvest festivals. Kirlian photography has showed us pictures of food after it has been blessed and sanctified by prayer and such food has been found to have an aura around it.
Food can be an aid to spirituality if we observe some ground rules. It should be freshly cooked and as far as possible, light and easily digestible. When food is digested perfectly it makes you feel good. Moderation is the key, whether it is the quantity consumed or the flavours used. Don’t eat till you are stuffed — leave a third of your stomach empty. A balance of all the different tastes will leave you experiencing a greater sense of equanimity. We could revisit the Ayurvedic principles of saatvic, rajasaic and tamasic foods and choose the right foods that match with our body types.
Eat at regular times. Mealtimes should be a pleasant, enjoyable experience. Eat mindfully, avoid friction and flare-ups and rushed meals.
Feeding the poor and needy or anyone who is hungry and in need of a hot meal is also one of the greatest forms of charity.
Finally, treat food with respect. In many homes when say, the rice is overcooked or a dish is not to the liking of the people eating it, it has been literally thrown into the dustbin. Sometimes people wash their hands in the very plate in which they have eaten or abuse the fare they have been fed. That is indeed the ultimate sin.
Food is, in a manner of speaking, akin to God. And anyone who has known starvation will vouch for that.