Food for Thought

Sometimes, I wonder—are they just being kind, or am I actually a good cook? Friends and colleagues often shower me with praise after sharing a meal I’ve prepared. While traveling abroad, I cooked for my team for months, creating a sense of home through food. Here in India, there’s a lovely tradition of sharing meals—whether it’s a potluck at the office or special dishes with neighbors during festive occasions. Thanks to Indian culture, sharing food even with strangers feels natural, turning every meal into a chance to connect.

But there’s something I’ve learned that I want to share, so you can avoid a similar struggle. Food is central to our lives, yet I neglected it for the past 10 years in my spiritual pursuits—eating only one meal per day and avoiding non-vegetarian food, eggs, milk, onions, and garlic. I ended up losing about 10 kg. Now I feel thin and could perhaps compete for a size-zero figure, but I’m struggling to regain weight. My body is not easily accepting the foods I renounced for 10 years. Recently, I’ve started reintroducing foods from my childhood and adjusting my cooking style to bring back those old, familiar tastes—and it seems to be working.

Lessons Learned:

1. Cook food in a way that brings the raw ingredients alive again.
2. Spiritual seekers should avoid ingredients or foods that involve violence or disrespect toward the source or farmland.
3. Choose foods in line with family and local traditions—they’ve been tested over generations.
4. Make cooking enjoyable—play music, sing, or dance as you prepare your meals.
5. Serve food with respect and gratitude. Not everyone is so blessed.
6. Be mindful of conditioning; we can learn to enjoy bitter gourd as much as apple pie. It’s about breaking old habits.
7. Keep meals simple. Avoid mixing too many ingredients in one dish to give your body a clear signal.
8. When dining out, order something unique and simple—something that doesn’t demand too much from the chef.
9. Drink alkaline water when possible; you can prepare it at home with a simple process. It’s a key component of health.

Cooking is the most sacred of all rituals. It’s our primary responsibility to carry out this ritual for our own bodies. How can food resonate with us if it’s prepared by someone who feels angry, sad, or distracted? Illnesses are on the rise despite all the foods and supplements available. Why? There are no simple answers...

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