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Food Porhn, Dana, Yum?

lobsterlobster Veteran
edited May 2020 in Buddhism Today

Warning may contain images of people eating sentient beings (snails):

I was staying at a Hinayana/Theravada monastery when dana of cold mcdonald's burgers was served. Luckily us laity we were last to be served and the cold cow had all gone and I had to make do with vegetarian Thai curry. Yum.

The above video of people feeding, cooking and serving their elderly was sent to me. There is no religion but there is food.

Could you eat what the community provides? Can you afford to be faddish or just fed? Nature provides?

Comments

  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited May 2020

    If someone prepares me a meal with meat, not knowing that I am a vegetarian, then I will eat it with gratitude but will try to tactfully explain that I am normally a vegetarian so as to not encourage any future meat slaughter on my behalf.

    If someone makes me a meal with meat, knowing that I am a vegetarian, then I will eat only that part of it that is not meat and leave the rest so as to not encourage any future meat slaughter on my behalf.

    Food from an alms bowl does not really apply to the above as all acceptance rules there but that's for the ordained to address.

    But surely even a lobster must know how often a post involving Buddhists & vegetarians results mostly in folks of one eating grouping simply feeling judged by those choosing different food groups.

    lobsterShoshin
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    Judge not, that ye be not judged.
    Let he who has no record of ever having done any harm, cast the first chicken bone.

    Or something like that...

    lobster
  • JeroenJeroen Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter Netherlands Veteran
    edited May 2020

    When I am with other people then I eat what is on the table, and if they make an effort to cater for me then I am grateful. I’m thinking of my uncles barbecues for example which are rather meat heavy but where he often provides a big platter of seafood for the members of the family who prefer that.

    But I will make room in my principles to eat whatever is there, meat included. I’m not a strict vegetarian, and I’ve let it be known that I think that occasional meat eating is good for the body.

    When my aunts and uncles and parents were young, they were often told stories about the last year of the Second World War, when there was very little food to be found. People would eat flower bulbs, and would bicycle hundreds of miles to go find farmers who were willing to sell them some potatoes. Those stories are still part of the culture here.

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited May 2020

    This is one of the reasons swedes (the root vegetable, not the people from Sweden!) are not popular in some North-Easterly parts of France - they call them rutabaga there - because during the years of occupation that's all any of rural communities had to eat. The Germans collared all the potatoes (In Italy, Germans are known by the name 'I cartoffi', Kartoffeln being German for 'potato'...) carrots and cabbages; the counties nearest the German Border (Alsace, Lorraine, Franche Comte) were naturally heavily populated by Germans, either departing or re-entering their own homeland...

    Even today, the principal popular dishes there are heavily influenced by German tastes and cuisine... it's a natural thing to find 'choucroute, saucissons, jambon cuit, pieds de porcs, boulettes and pommes de terre en bière', because the Germans brought those dishes with them. The Germans (mercifully!) left. The dishes stayed.

    But the Rutabaga carries too many memories of poverty, deprivation, near-starvation and oppression. It's just too much for some people, and memories in that corner of France, are long....

    Vimalajāti
  • VimalajātiVimalajāti Whitby, Ontario Veteran

    @federica said:
    But the Rutabaga carries too many memories of poverty, deprivation, near-starvation and oppression.

    It also tastes of only-slightly-odorous flatulence.

    adamcrossley
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Vimalajāti said:

    @federica said:
    But the Rutabaga carries too many memories of poverty, deprivation, near-starvation and oppression.

    It also tastes of only-slightly-odorous flatulence.

    Yeah, there is that.... it is however, superseded by other vegetables in the cruciferous range. And as for Jerusalem Artichokes... Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary, anyone...?

    adamcrossley
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    It's funny but I can't open this thread on my phone or iPad as they have filters on them that block the word "porn".

    So I have to open it on my work laptop (tsk, tsk, I feel an email from HR coming.....)

    how
  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    Could you eat what the community provides? Can you afford to be faddish or just fed? Nature provides?

    If somebody prepared an animal flesh meal for me, I would not eat it...I would politely decline and explain why....This approach dates back to pre Buddhist days of being an ethical vegetarian...Long before Buddhism I had adopted ethical vegetarianism as a way of life...

    However fortunately nowadays many people are conscious of the fact of there being a number of vegetarians & vegans and so when inviting others to dinner will ask the question first and not take it for granted (like in the days of old...where meat & three vege was the norm)...If I'm attending workshops, seminars, etc, and morning & afternoon tea & lunch is provided,the organizers always cater for vegetarians, but not necessarily vegans...

    Bunkslobsteradamcrossley
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    These days I will try and eat anything that anyone is willing to offer me.

    However, I had a Thai chef stay with me for a few months and after a few weeks I had to let her know I couldn't keep eating Thai food all the time. My palate was just not used to it. Plus I was getting fat......hehe

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Bunks said:
    It's funny but I can't open this thread on my phone or iPad as they have filters on them that block the word "porn".

    So I have to open it on my work laptop (tsk, tsk, I feel an email from HR coming.....)

    Saved you from HR admonishment. (See thread title).

    Bunks
  • BunksBunks Australia Veteran

    Thanks @federica - sorry @lobster :)

    lobster
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    @Bunks said:
    Thanks @federica - sorry @lobster :)

    Yeah, sorry @lobster. But it was for a good cause....

    lobster
  • lobsterlobster Veteran

    Bravo ethical eaters (I swear by almighty Buddha to eat evil doers - any recipes for locust curries?) 😋

    Very early in my Buddhist training we were taught to treat food as medicine. On this basis I am an advocate of health cake. For example:

    • carrot and chia. Use stevia as sweetener. 🤩
    • Greek yogurt + smoothie - instant pudding - add nuts for extra proteins 🥳
    • Mary Antoinette poverty advice - 'let them eat brioche' ... home baking ... Mama Yama save us...
      ... any clues?

    As a self confessed murderer (I killed 3 slugs with salt last week) 😱 I am finally leaving slug patrol in my covid cabin to the birds. Feast well flying harbringers of death ... 🤗

    BunksJeroen
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