Food Kinetically Engineered to Stir the Soul

Most of us don’t realize Buddha’s Delight, that predictable vegetarian entree at every Chinese restaurant and takeout joint, was created more than 1,000 years ago in Chinese monasteries as edible transcendence. Its Chinese name luohan zhai actually means “vegetarian food of the accomplished ones” and its ingredients are icons. Bamboo shoots represent new chances, mushrooms opportunity, tofu transformation and since the peas stay in the pod, snow peas typify unity. When all 18 traditional components are assembled, Buddha’s Delight becomes the four cosmic elements that sustain human life: earth (peas, carrots…), water (lotus root, black moss…), fire (tofu which comes from fermentation) and air (mushrooms). The dish is meant to harmonize the body with the invisible world of the spirit. Since we humans started cooking in caves, we’ve had unshakable faith in the power of food to energize our soul. We so desperately want to break through the limits of our body, even now when we cook in condos, noodles, rice, wheat, as well as milk, salt, lamb, corn and tofu are not just normal groceries to fill the stomach. Like Buddha’s Delight, they come packed with spiritual nutrients.

Sandra Garson is the author of Veggiyana, the Dharma of Cooking and How to Fix a Leek and Other Food From Your Farmers’ Market. As a longtime student of Tibetan Buddhism and well-known cook for Dharma centers from Maine to Mongolia, she became the first food historian to explore the Buddha’s influence on how the world now eats. This led to exploration of more religious beliefs about food.

Roman Catholic Communion Bread

Seemingly simple Roman Catholic Communion bread serves a purpose similar to desi, and like Buddha’s Delight doesn’t have a must-do definitive recipe. For centuries theologians and ordinary cooks have struggled to find the most fitting way to physically transmit the grace of the invisible “Host.” The single wafer concept, one for every body, competes with the belief Communion is better represented with a whole loaf of bread broken by congregants into pieces to signify many sharing the One. There’s no agreement on the use and variety of wheat either or, more particularly, yeast. Eastern Orthodox churches deliberately use leavened bread for Communion, believing its expanded volume—that yeast poof!-- best represents the Resurrection that distinguished Jesus as Christ. On the other hand, Roman Catholics serve unleavened “crackers” to adhere to the ancient belief that pure bread consists only of flour and water. Yeast is an impurity that provokes artificial inflation, which looks like cheating.

Jewish Matzo

For this very reason, Passover Jewish matzo is unleavened, although some ritual liturgies insist it’s because fleeing Pharaoh on a moment’s notice didn’t allow Hebrews to wait for dough to rise. By this logic, cracker-like matzo memorializes escape to freedom. Changed circumstance is actually the theme of the ritual Passover meal: a Seder celebrates the shift from slavery (diners dip herbs into bitter saltwater that signifies tears) to independence (diners recline to feast on copious meat and vegetables). The Seder’s ritual of renewal, or resurrection, is perfectly choreographed to synchronize the soul with the arrival of spring. Now that we’re no longer caught in winter’s bleak grip, the Pascal (spring born) lamb bone, fresh parsley and whole cooked egg on the Passover table provoke our mind to embrace new opportunities.