Divine cuisine - Neivedyam and prasadam

Whenever I visit the Skandagiri  temple  and walk out with the prasadam, I end up thinking what is it with the prasadam that has this fulfilling taste and will give you satiation when you have even just a little from that small shallow leaf cup.  It is less than a ladle but you feel your dinner is complete  and the taste , oh so…. Heavenly!

Is it the ritualistic cooking  that goes into the making of the Neivedyam( offering to god)?

I have visited many temples where the visit is completed with the prasadam and everywhere I have experienced  such divine taste.  Most big  temples that I have visited have huge halls where meals are served and  the food offered here is  sattvic meal. 

One of them  that I have often visited  is the ISKCON temple near my parents home, here  though commercially it is called ‘Annakuta’ . 

 According to higher taste of ISKCON( Higher taste is their publication), the wholesome meal is cooked according to vedic scriptures  without the use of onions, garlic, eggs, caffeine and is never over- spiced and the food thus prepared is offered to god as ‘Neivedyam’. This food when partaken after offering to god with vedic vibrations sanctifies the food and renders the food tasty and is  called ‘Prasadam'.

                                ( Jagannath temple prasadam counter photo taken from my mobile)

 The food is cooked  according to the satvic principles of Vedas.  The food is  thus  created with positive vibrations & thoughts  and cleanses  both body and mind. It also keeps us healthier.  I have read that the important factor that goes into ritualistic cooking is that it is made with good thoughts.  While cooking the thoughts play a major role in the outcome.  The thoughts of the cook flow into the food that we cook and have their impact on it and so one should not cook food when one is angry and stressed .And, also the cleanliness/hygiene of the cooks and the vibrations of the various mantras they chant while cooking must be rendering the divine taste to the food. 

 At home too, it is a practice among my family elders in our native place   to treat cooking like a ritual. They cook food only after having their bath. They cook on slow fire  in special vessels which endow the taste and aroma , they  chant mantras while cooking. The food is first offered to God  along with ghee, then to  crows and then served to people at home. Perhaps the reason why it tastes divine and satiating. Food had with such positive vibrations peacefully are supposed to be healthy. 

There are many such places of worship which are famous for prasadam, some of which I have had the pleasure of  experiencing were -

1. The foremost is ofcourse  at Tirupati  – the GIS marked Laddu, dadhiyodanam(curd rice) and puliogre( tamarind rice).
2. At Udipi (Karnataka)which  is called Anna brahma kshetra( where food is treated as god) there is a huge hall catering to the devotees and serves food to all the devotees.
3. At Sri kshetra Dharmasthala again in Karnataka.
4. The sattvic meal at Ramanasramam( Sri Ramana maharishi's ashram). Here you will find many foreigners squatting on the floor and eating with their fingers from plaintain leaf as if they were born with the practice.
5.  The puliogre of most Vishnu temples especially the one at Devagiri( Bangalore). My in-laws would wait till 1.p.m( closing time) at the temple on Saturdays because my then 5 year old daughter loved this and would wait to grab it.
6. The thambittu( made with jaggery, ghee & riceflour on festive days) at most kannadiga homes.
7. The ksheera ( sugar, rava &ghee) during satyanarayana vrat
8. The kadubu( fried modaks) during sankatahara chaturthi
9. The aravana payasam of sabarimala, Kerala( rice kheer made with  jaggery)
10. The paal payasam @ guruvayoor( made with milk and rice)
11. The pazhani panchamirtham (tamilnadu) ( medley of fruits, honey and palmsugar)
12. The pongal at ISKCON, Bangalore  and the various Krishna Prasad like pizza, burger, vegan biscuits, cakes. Yes, every vegan product here is sold in the name of Krishna Prasad and it tastes divine.
13. The sundals( usal) at various homes during navratri visits.
14. The snake pit mud at kukke subramanya( remember this temple site got more hits when Sachin tendulkar visited)
15. The tilgul of shirdi( made with sugar and til)
16. The  sugar balls of varanasi and most temples up in the north.
17. The haldi at Saraswati temple, and the brahma temple @ Trichy

                 ..... and  many more I am leaving this list incomplete..........

Would you care to add yours in the comments section?