The culinary traditions of various religions come to the rescue for a healthy diet

Peace Times 11

Probably for most it is just a new fashion. But with the right motivation, it can be transformed into a complement to ones spiritual life. It is a fact that the latest frontier in the field of diets is represented by the «return» to ancient religious gastronomic prescriptions.

In fact, all spiritual traditions have individualised and listed those food items allowed to their practitioners, in so far as they are useful to inner evolution, and even ways to prepare and cook them. The trendiest recipes of the end of the millennium, in essence represent the journey into «the mysticism of food» of their authors, on the discovery path of ruling wisdom, since time immemorial, that is the relationship between man and food even by means of correct gesture.

In the European countrysides, before cutting and dividing the bread, the head of the family signs a cross on the loaf with his knife. In India the ritual to access the world of culture and spirituality is performed in a surprisingly similar way: the father guides the finger of the child in tracing the sacred syllable Om upon the raw rice filled bowl.

Hindus eat food with their hands: contact is to be direct, without mediation. As it is written in the famous epic poem Mahabarata, Krishna is a glutton for kheer, a pudding made with rice prepared by Brahmins (the priestly caste), following specific rules, and offered to divinities in the temples and afterwards also given to the faithful.

In the temples dedicated to Ganesh, the god with a child’s body and the head of an elephant, the coconut triumphs, sealing a symbolic meaning: the god crushes its shell with its strong animal head, thus overcoming difficulties for the devoted.

Just as Hinduist cuisine, Zen too is vegetarian. According to different countries and schools, milk products and eggs are allowed. A Zen cook is concentrated on gestures: cutting vegetables or preparing typical steamed white rice, and meditating on the gifts of nature as a means to integrate with nature and reach «awakening». The particular altruism which guides the preparation of main courses forsees the offering of food to guests to be taken home...

The Koran absolutely forbids the consumption of pork products. Permissible animals must be butchered according to specific dispositions: they must be slaughtered and fully bled; any one dead by suffocation, killed by beating or a fall are prohibited. The ramadan month of fasting and prayer prescribes the intake of food and drink exclusively after sunset. These meals are particularly delicious, rich and nutritious, in order to refresh the body and mind of the devotee. The date, the Profits sacred fruit, taken with a glass of water, concludes the ritual Moslem fast; it is however also used during the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Saint Benedict, founder of the famous catholic monastic order, gives precise instructions to the monks as to behaviour in the kitchen and at the table, dwelling upon the mystical aspect of bread, a eucharistic symbol particularly emphasised by the orthodox church.

The Hebrew word kosher, that is suitable, identifies the foods allowed by the Torah: animals must only be ruminants with forked feet; meats and milk products can never be mixed, not even during the same meal. During Easter dinner, every food item, every gesture, every mouthful follow a millennia old immutable ritual.

Not to be forgotten, is the Purim celebration, which reminds Persians of salvation: it is forbidden to remain clear headed, all drink wine, finally kosher...

r.p.