From devotion and gratitude to purity and prosperity, the meanings we place on the food we share.
Food is among the most ordinary things in human life. We prepare it, share it, celebrate with it and depend on it. Yet across cultures and religious traditions, food can become something far more significant than nourishment. An offering placed before a deity, a sweet received after prayer or a meal shared with a community may carry meanings that reach well beyond its ingredients.
What gives food this significance is not necessarily the food itself, but the intention, the tradition and the act through which it is prepared, offered and received.
As Diwali approaches, the Hindu Festival of Lights offers a particularly rich opportunity to explore these connections. Homes are cleaned and illuminated, prayers are offered, sweets are prepared and gifts exchanged. Families gather around tables laden with food, while offerings express devotion, gratitude and hopes for prosperity. Customs vary across regions, communities and households, reminding us that even within one religious tradition, there is rarely a single way of celebrating.
Food can be an offering to the divine, an expression of gratitude between neighbours or a practical demonstration of a community’s commitment to caring for others. Its meaning becomes clearer when we look beyond the ingredients and consider the relationships it creates and sustains.
More Than a Meal
In many religious traditions, food serves several purposes at once. It nourishes the body, expresses hospitality, marks a celebration or becomes part of a sacred ritual. Sometimes it is offered to a deity before being shared among worshippers. Sometimes its preparation becomes an act of devotion. Elsewhere, a communal meal expresses equality, generosity and belonging.
In Hindu traditions, prasad refers to food or another offering that has been blessed or received as divine grace. For devotees, receiving prasad can represent participation in a relationship of devotion and blessing.
An ordinary sweet may be delicious, but that same sweet, prepared and offered as part of a religious observance, can acquire a significance that its recipe alone cannot explain.
The ingredients have not necessarily changed. The meaning has.
Diwali: Light, Sweetness and Generosity
Diwali, also known as Deepavali, is celebrated by Hindus and observed in different ways by other religious communities. Its stories and significance vary, with themes including the triumph of good over evil, renewal and the welcoming of prosperity.
Food is an integral part of many Diwali celebrations. Sweets and savoury snacks are prepared, offered, exchanged and shared with family, friends and neighbours. Laddoos, barfi, jalebi and numerous regional specialities may appear on festive tables, although no single menu represents every household or community.
During Lakshmi Puja, observed by many Hindus during Diwali, offerings may be made to Lakshmi, the goddess associated with wealth and prosperity, and to Ganesha, who is associated with wisdom and the removal of obstacles. Flowers, sweets, fruit and other appropriate offerings may accompany prayers and the lighting of lamps.
During my years in India, Diwali often arrived with a thoughtful gesture from the neighbours: a box or bowl of mixed nuts and dried fruits. In many years, I was also invited to join the morning puja and sent home afterwards with a box of gulab jamuns or barfi.
These were more than festive treats. They honoured the relationship we shared and expressed gratitude, friendship and mutual respect. The invitation to participate in the morning’s worship offered something more personal still: a place within a moment of significance in my neighbours’ lives.
The food was part of the celebration, but the gesture carried its own meaning. It acknowledged that the relationship mattered, that my presence was appreciated and that the joy of the occasion was something to be shared.
Not every meaningful food needs to be placed on an altar. Sometimes its significance lies in the hands that offer it, the welcome that accompanies it and the connection it helps to nurture.
The Importance of Preparation
In many Hindu worship traditions, the preparation of food is as important as the food itself. Cleanliness, intention and observance of the relevant ritual practices may all matter. Some households prepare particular dishes specifically for offerings, using ingredients and methods appropriate to their tradition.
The concept of sattva, associated in Indian philosophical traditions with qualities such as clarity, balance and harmony, also informs some approaches to food. Foods considered sattvic are often associated with freshness, simplicity and moderation. In certain traditions, this may mean avoiding meat, eggs, onion, garlic or other ingredients during worship or particular observances.
These practices are not universal Hindu dietary rules. Customs differ between communities, lineages, religious observances and individual households. An ingredient excluded from one family’s ritual cooking may be perfectly acceptable in another family’s kitchen.
Nor should every such practice be attributed directly to Vastu Shastra. Religious dietary principles, philosophical ideas about food and traditional approaches to the design of living spaces are related in some contexts, but they are not interchangeable.
A food may therefore be considered unsuitable for a particular offering without being regarded as inherently bad or harmful in everyday life. Context matters.
A Place at the Table: The Sikh Tradition of Sharing
Some of my most meaningful experiences of hospitality in India were in Sikh gurdwaras. Whether I visited in Delhi or Punjab, I always felt welcome, regardless of my own religious background.
Visitors are generally welcome to enter a gurdwara provided they observe its protocols: covering their heads, removing their shoes and treating the sacred space with respect. One of the most remarkable expressions of Sikh hospitality is langar, the communal kitchen and meal offered to visitors.
Volunteers prepare and serve food to people regardless of their religion, background or social standing. Langar is provided at gurdwaras around the world, with opening hours and meal services varying from one place to another. At some gurdwaras, the service continues around the clock. This tradition of hospitality is sustained by seva, the Sikh principle of selfless service.
Everyone is welcome to sit down and eat. The meal is not conditional on sharing the beliefs of the people who provide it. It is hospitality expressed through action and an embodiment of the Sikh principle that people should be treated with dignity and equality.
The sharing continues beyond the meal itself. Visitors may receive Karah Prashad, a sacred preparation distributed as part of Sikh worship. It may be eaten there or taken home, allowing the recipient to share it with someone who was unable to visit the gurdwara.
During my visits, this combination of generosity, service and openness left a lasting impression. I was simply a visitor, and there was a place for me.
Langar and Karah Prashad are distinct practices: one is the communal meal, while the other is a sacred preparation distributed during worship. Both demonstrate how food can express generosity and shared community.
The invitation to take prasad home adds another dimension. Something received in a sacred space can become a gift to another person, extending the gesture of welcome to someone who could not be present.
Sometimes, the most profound expression of a belief is not a declaration of what someone believes, but the kindness they extend to another person.
Vastu Shastra: The Sacred Space of Food
Vastu Shastra is a traditional Indian system of architecture and spatial arrangement, concerned with the relationship between buildings, their occupants and the surrounding environment. It is a distinct school of thought from Chinese Feng Shui; although both address the relationship between people and their surroundings, they have different philosophical foundations and principles and should not be treated as interchangeable systems.
Vastu principles are applied to the design and organisation of homes, including kitchens and places of worship. The kitchen has a meaningful role in this context. It is where ingredients become nourishment, where meals are prepared for the household and where daily acts of care take place. Traditional Vastu recommendations may address the kitchen’s location, the positioning of the cooking fire and the relationship between different elements of the space.
For households that incorporate Vastu into their religious lives, the kitchen and the place of worship may form part of a wider understanding of a harmonious home. Keeping these spaces clean, preparing offerings respectfully and placing them appropriately can express that intention.
However, Vastu Shastra should not be treated as a universal dietary code. It does not provide one universally accepted list of foods forbidden at every altar or dining table. Rules concerning ingredients such as onion, garlic or meat are more accurately discussed in relation to particular religious, philosophical or ritual traditions.
Two households may follow different dietary practices while both regarding their kitchens, meals and worship spaces as sacred.
The question is not simply what goes into the pot, but what the household believes the act of cooking and offering represents.
The Foods That Raise Questions
Which foods should be kept away from the altar? Are there ingredients that should never appear on the dining table if a household wishes to follow Vastu principles?
There is no single answer that applies to every household or religious observance.
In some Hindu worship practices, offerings are vegetarian and prepared without onion or garlic. Other traditions follow different customs. Freshness and cleanliness may be important considerations, but specific requirements depend on the observance and the community.
It would be misleading to turn these variations into a universal blacklist. An ingredient may be excluded because of a religious discipline, a philosophical principle or a particular ritual requirement. That does not mean every Hindu household follows the same restrictions, or that Vastu itself prohibits the ingredient.
The everyday dining table deserves a distinction of its own. Traditional guidance may address its placement, cleanliness, arrangement and relationship to the rest of the home. These spatial considerations are not the same as declaring particular foods spiritually dangerous.
An apple does not automatically become auspicious or inauspicious merely by crossing the threshold of a room. Its significance depends on the tradition, the circumstances and the meaning attributed to it.
Rather than searching for one definitive list of permitted and forbidden foods, we gain more by asking why a particular custom matters to the people who observe it.
The Meaning Behind the Offering
There is something quietly powerful about setting aside a portion of food rather than consuming it immediately. It introduces a pause into an everyday activity. The food is prepared with a purpose, presented with care and given a meaning beyond its immediate use.
For some, that meaning is devotion. For others, it is gratitude, remembrance, generosity or hope. Understanding these meanings requires us to respect the traditions through which people express them.
Hindu and Sikh practices offer distinct perspectives on sacred food. Whether through an offering during worship, a gift exchanged between neighbours or a communal meal prepared by volunteers, food can express beliefs and values in ways that reach beyond words.
We do not need to share a particular belief to understand why an act of offering matters deeply to someone else.
Food sustains us, but it also carries memory, affection, identity and intention. Sometimes a meal is simply a meal. Sometimes it is a celebration. Sometimes it is a prayer expressed through the hands that prepare it.
And sometimes, the smallest offering says what words cannot.
As Diwali approaches, may the lights in every home remind us of hope, generosity and the importance of sharing what we have.
Wishing everyone who celebrates a joyful and peaceful Diwali. May the Festival of Lights bring happiness, hope, harmony and prosperity to you and your loved ones. Happy Diwali!
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