Eating

Throughout the world the act of eating
is imbued with cultural significance and
cultural messages, and Hindu culture
makes no exception. Given the strong
emphasis on purity, Hindus pay significant attention to the preparation and
consumption of food. Factors such as
whom one eats with, who may prepare
one’s food, and what types of food one
will eat and how it should be prepared
all send messages about the social status
of an individual or a community. The
groups with the highest status, particularly brahmins, are the strictest with
regard to their dining habits. For the
most part, such high-status groups
adhere to a principle known as commensality—that is, only eating food
cooked by members of their social
group. With regard to the content of
one’s diet, the great divide is between
vegetarian and nonvegetarian. An exclusively vegetarian diet indicates higher
status, and among nonvegetarians there
are status gradations depending on
what types of meat one eats. For orthodox Hindus, every meal is a potential
source of ritual contamination and must
be carefully monitored. Food cooked in
water is seen as far more susceptible to
pollution (ashaucha) and greater care is
taken in accepting it, whereas food fried
in oil or ghee is believed to be much
more resistant to pollution and thus a
lesser source of ritual danger. From a
religious perspective, the safest meal of
all is the meal that is cooked and eaten
at home. See also Vegetarianism.