Chaitanya Charan

Eat food made of plants, not food made in plants by Chaitanya Charan Das Based on Bhagavad Gita Chapter 17

Food made of plants is both spiritually and physically congenial. Spiritually it shows due reverence for the Creator by minimizing violence to his creation, by avoiding the killing of animals for the satisfaction of our palate. Physically, it comprises the most healthy human diet, as is being increasingly confirmed by many scientific surveys.

Yet the same scientific acumen that endorses food made of plants is being misused to replace it with food made in plants, hi-tech food processing units. Several well-researched books such as Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Michael Moss report how consumers are being caught by their tongues, akin to fishes caught by baits. Many food-selling corporates use sophisticated brain sensors to determine what levels of tongue titillating ingredients such as salt, sugar and food trigger the most excitement, as demonstrated by peak activation in the brain’s gustatory cortex. Exploiting such neurological findings, food giants get consumers hooked by hiking the levels of these tongue titillators in their products, even when such levels are known to be unhealthy.

The Bhagavad-gita (17.09) deems food that offers excessive sensory stimulation food in the mode of passion – and warns that indulgence in such food leads to distress and disease. Echoing the Gita, many surveys have shown that the current epidemic of obesity and other food-induced health disorders are caused by increased intake of artificial food.

In contrast with such passionate food, food in goodness is food that is harmonious with our nature – evidently, food made of plants. Significantly, the Gita’s food recommendation goes beyond sattvika food to spiritual food or prasad, food spiritualized by being offered in devotion to the supreme spiritual reality Krishna. Such devotionally sanctified food has the potential to be physically nourishing and spiritually liberating – it’s the complete package.