Bless My Food Always

Before my late grandmother starts eating her meals, she will take a very small portion of the food in her right hand, bring the hand nearer to the chest, close her eyes, mumble something, look up to the ceiling, smile and then put that bit of food at the edge of the plate and then carry on eating the rest of the food. She would finish every bit of food on her plate except that bit of food at the edge of her plate. I asked her why she does this everyday and I was told that, she had asked God to taste the food and blessed it and therefore had left it at the corner for God to come anytime to eat the food……….well, your sincerely, had sat down next to my grandma just so that one day I may get a glimpse of God eating the food and I never witnessed it.

But her habit did not die with her…..I follow it but very discreetly so that I don’t have to answer everyone I sit down to eat with. Yes, I grew up affirming that if we want to stay healthy and maintain a happy face, great even emotion, clearer complexion we will have to pray over our food and drink before consuming it. I am glad I grew spiritually instead of just gorging myself with food. I believe I have to pray over my food and drink more so if it is prepared by someone else………even my Amma as she too may have her bad days. Just like food is energy, our body, mind and soul are energy too and energy is transmitted by touch you know? We can pass some very minute atom of energy – good and bad when we prepare food and another person eats it.

As I grew spiritually and increase my sensitivity, I realized that my body grew in sensitivity too. As soon as a ‘bad’ food enters me, I react by feeling nauseated so that I will have to throw up, or drink lots of water to flush or dilute it. I believe that food prepared and served by people who have ‘bad’ energy brings your energy level down. That is why I offer my food and drink to God, the highest energy to bless. Yes, but then I am not just asking my food to be blessed, I also thank God that I am blessed with lots of food now, food as my career and food to nourish and strength my body. I thank God for giving me the brains to think of what I should and should not eat. I do sometimes have guilt feeling when I have to throw away food that I cannot finish into the garbage bin, for which I thanked God for.

Teaching our children to consistently ask a blessing at meals sets an example they will remember when they become parents, but then how many parents set an example. The children grew up thinking food comes through exchanges of dollars and cents. In these very fast paced lives, we have a chance to stop for a breather, to thank God and to be grateful for the food we eat and when we pause to think and thank God, we become relaxed and so we help our digestive system to work better!

When I was working in a Catholic school, I remember typing verses for prayers "Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves" and "…He took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat". It funny and weird and I have goose pimples now as I am typing this…..I can’t imagine me remembering these lines after more than 30 years!! I guess it is FOOD, very much chiseled in my brain! The Hindus have Prasatham - food that has first been offered to God and thus this food is considered sacred and is given to those who pray at the temple.

One need not be religious or pious to ask God to bless his or her food. The prayer for the modern person is:

“Dear God, I thank you very much for providing me this meal. Please bless my food and make it energize and nourish my body. Please protect my every multiplying cells from any harmful bacteria, virus and germs that entered the food through the processing or the environment. Please let my body feel and be alert if a particular food cannot synergize with my body. I thank you God.”