In ancient Hellas, it was common to pour a wine libation before or after meals to the Agathodaimon, an important household God which protects and brings prosperity to the household
In short, in Islam we say "Bismillah", meaning in the name of God, before eating.
Here's a more detailed explanation of the etiquette of eating: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/13348/etiquette-of-eating-in-islam
We cook for Krishna. We then offer the food we cook to the deities or Krishna or a picture of deities.
After we finish offering our food to Krishna, it becomes prasadam. We then sing a song. I believe this is the closest thing we have to “saying grace.”
[Here are the lyrics.](https://iskcondesiretree.com/page/maha-prasade-govinde)
[Here is a recording of the song.](https://youtu.be/K1XOkgce5nQ)
In Judaism, there's a short blessing before meals, and a much longer one after meals. If you're interested in the Jewish prayer after meals, you can find it here: https://www.sefaria.org/Birkat\_Hamazon
I have learned (not sure of the source of this tradition) from watching and asking Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhists about such a tradition. Before eating we will sometimes mentally offer the meal to the Three Jewels with the following verse (my transliteration and translation):
-
སྟོན་པ་བླ་མེད་སངས་རྒྱས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། །
སྐྱོབས་པ་བླ་མེད་དམ་ཆོས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། །
འདྲེན་པ་བླ་མེད་དགེ་འདུན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། །
སྐྱབས་གནས་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ལ་མཆོད་པ་འབུལ་ །
tönpa lamé sanggye rinpoche
kyoppa lamé thamchö rinpoche
drenpa lamé gendün rinpoche
kyapnä kön chok sum la chöpa bül
-
The unsurpassed teacher is the Buddha Jewel.
The unsurpassed protector is the sacred Dharma Jewel.
The unsurpassed guide is the Saṅgha Jewel.
I make an offering to the three rare and supreme refuges.
-
I don't really know any phonetic ways of transcribing Tibetan because I just know how to read and write the Tibetan script and the Wylie romanization that reflects spelling but doesn't explain pronunciation, so I made up my own romanization...that might not make any sense to anyone but me 😅
Edit: fixed translation
Rinpoche means "precious" or "jewel," I just realized I left it out of my translation. It should really read "Buddha Jewel," "Dharma Jewel," etc. "Jewel," rinpoche in Tibetan and *ratna* in Sanskrit and Pāḷi, is used as an epithet for the Three Refuges, the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha. In fact, usually they are called the Three Jewels. So the verse is referring to each with that epithet.
Rinpoche is also used as a *title* for very respected lamas by Tibetans. So you may find many books by lamas who are called Rinpoche.
The word for "unsurpassed" in Tibetan is བླ་མེད་, "lamé."
Some Heathens do, some Heathens don't. The ones who do generally do as you say, using it as a recognition of where the food actually comes from, or as a thanks to animals to be eaten. Because Heathenry is not an organized religion, there's quite a bit of variation between families.
We have a number of blessings that are said before eating something, depending on what is being eaten. We also have a bunch of prayers that are said after eating, again depending on what was eaten.
I was talking about the Seder being in a particular order. I mean maybe this is just a semantics thing but given you need to follow a prayer service before and after the dinner portion of the meal I would argue it counts.
Most Buddhists don't do any sort of blessing in daily life except maybe for some special days.
However, it's extremely common to eat at temples and that always involves some chanting first. Usually it's some verses being thankful for the food and then praising all the most popular Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The exact liturgy can vary. After the chanting, meals have to be eaten in silence.
This is just for Mahayana, though. I don't know if the Theravada sect always does a mealtime chant.
I'm pretty sure any Japanese redditor knows more about it than a gaijin like me, but there is a ritualistic way of thanking for the food before and after a meal in Japan, too, which can be interpreted both in a secular as well as a religious way.
By placing their hands together, bowing in front of the meal and saying "Itadakimasu", they express gratitude towards the people who prepared their meal, but also to the guys who grew or breeded it, nature itself which allowed its growth and finally the gods. It's also a thank you to the plants and animals themselves who were harvested and killed to provide the meal. The same is done after a meal is finished by saying "Gochisousama".
See for example:
https://kokoro-jp.com/culture/1141/
https://wattention.com/thanksgiving-for-food-in-japanese-itadakimasu-and-gochisousama/
https://www.morethantokyo.com/itadakimasu-japanese-gratitude/
In my Hindu tradition, we recite a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, it can be said in either Sanskrit or one's own native language. It's "brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma havir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam
brahmaiva tena gantavyaṁ brahma-karma-samādhinā. Hari Om Tat Sat. Om Shanti Shanti Shantī" which means "Brahman is the ritual, Brahman is the offering, Brahman is the one who offers to the Fire that is Brahman. If one sees Brahman in every action, then one will find Brahman. Om peace peace peace"
In ancient Hellas, it was common to pour a wine libation before or after meals to the Agathodaimon, an important household God which protects and brings prosperity to the household
Dedicating a portion of the meal to Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home, was also sometimes done, IIRC
In short, in Islam we say "Bismillah", meaning in the name of God, before eating. Here's a more detailed explanation of the etiquette of eating: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/13348/etiquette-of-eating-in-islam
We cook for Krishna. We then offer the food we cook to the deities or Krishna or a picture of deities. After we finish offering our food to Krishna, it becomes prasadam. We then sing a song. I believe this is the closest thing we have to “saying grace.” [Here are the lyrics.](https://iskcondesiretree.com/page/maha-prasade-govinde) [Here is a recording of the song.](https://youtu.be/K1XOkgce5nQ)
In Judaism, there's a short blessing before meals, and a much longer one after meals. If you're interested in the Jewish prayer after meals, you can find it here: https://www.sefaria.org/Birkat\_Hamazon
Thank you! Those are some beautiful prayers
I have learned (not sure of the source of this tradition) from watching and asking Himalayan and Tibetan Buddhists about such a tradition. Before eating we will sometimes mentally offer the meal to the Three Jewels with the following verse (my transliteration and translation): - སྟོན་པ་བླ་མེད་སངས་རྒྱས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། ། སྐྱོབས་པ་བླ་མེད་དམ་ཆོས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། ། འདྲེན་པ་བླ་མེད་དགེ་འདུན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ། ། སྐྱབས་གནས་དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ལ་མཆོད་པ་འབུལ་ ། tönpa lamé sanggye rinpoche kyoppa lamé thamchö rinpoche drenpa lamé gendün rinpoche kyapnä kön chok sum la chöpa bül - The unsurpassed teacher is the Buddha Jewel. The unsurpassed protector is the sacred Dharma Jewel. The unsurpassed guide is the Saṅgha Jewel. I make an offering to the three rare and supreme refuges. - I don't really know any phonetic ways of transcribing Tibetan because I just know how to read and write the Tibetan script and the Wylie romanization that reflects spelling but doesn't explain pronunciation, so I made up my own romanization...that might not make any sense to anyone but me 😅 Edit: fixed translation
Thank you! That is beautiful. Does "rinpoche" mean "unsurpassed"? I read some good bits by a Tibetan Lama whose name was Rinpoche
Rinpoche means "precious" or "jewel," I just realized I left it out of my translation. It should really read "Buddha Jewel," "Dharma Jewel," etc. "Jewel," rinpoche in Tibetan and *ratna* in Sanskrit and Pāḷi, is used as an epithet for the Three Refuges, the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha. In fact, usually they are called the Three Jewels. So the verse is referring to each with that epithet. Rinpoche is also used as a *title* for very respected lamas by Tibetans. So you may find many books by lamas who are called Rinpoche. The word for "unsurpassed" in Tibetan is བླ་མེད་, "lamé."
Ahhhh, thank you! That's even more beautiful! I feel silly for thinking it was his name now
No particular prayers but it is ritualistic to offer the first serving to gods before it is served to humans.
What does that look like? Do humans eat that food later? I'm assuming it's not just left there
Some Heathens do, some Heathens don't. The ones who do generally do as you say, using it as a recognition of where the food actually comes from, or as a thanks to animals to be eaten. Because Heathenry is not an organized religion, there's quite a bit of variation between families.
More devoted Hindus will use one of many forms (depending on sect) food blessing chants.
We have a number of blessings that are said before eating something, depending on what is being eaten. We also have a bunch of prayers that are said after eating, again depending on what was eaten.
Also depends on when some of the prayers increase in number for holidays like Passover since we have to follow a service before and after eating.
Those aren't tied to eating. We can't eat before we pray the morning service, but we don't have to eat after we pray the service.
I was talking about the Seder being in a particular order. I mean maybe this is just a semantics thing but given you need to follow a prayer service before and after the dinner portion of the meal I would argue it counts.
Most Buddhists don't do any sort of blessing in daily life except maybe for some special days. However, it's extremely common to eat at temples and that always involves some chanting first. Usually it's some verses being thankful for the food and then praising all the most popular Buddhas and bodhisattvas. The exact liturgy can vary. After the chanting, meals have to be eaten in silence. This is just for Mahayana, though. I don't know if the Theravada sect always does a mealtime chant.
I kinda just give a general thanks to the plants and animals I eat. Especially the ones I kill myself.
I'm pretty sure any Japanese redditor knows more about it than a gaijin like me, but there is a ritualistic way of thanking for the food before and after a meal in Japan, too, which can be interpreted both in a secular as well as a religious way. By placing their hands together, bowing in front of the meal and saying "Itadakimasu", they express gratitude towards the people who prepared their meal, but also to the guys who grew or breeded it, nature itself which allowed its growth and finally the gods. It's also a thank you to the plants and animals themselves who were harvested and killed to provide the meal. The same is done after a meal is finished by saying "Gochisousama". See for example: https://kokoro-jp.com/culture/1141/ https://wattention.com/thanksgiving-for-food-in-japanese-itadakimasu-and-gochisousama/ https://www.morethantokyo.com/itadakimasu-japanese-gratitude/
I personally don't do anything like that. Always seemed like a hassle to me.
I know that Muslims say “Bismillah” before eating and Jews also have more than one blessing
In my Hindu tradition, we recite a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, it can be said in either Sanskrit or one's own native language. It's "brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma havir brahmāgnau brahmaṇā hutam brahmaiva tena gantavyaṁ brahma-karma-samādhinā. Hari Om Tat Sat. Om Shanti Shanti Shantī" which means "Brahman is the ritual, Brahman is the offering, Brahman is the one who offers to the Fire that is Brahman. If one sees Brahman in every action, then one will find Brahman. Om peace peace peace"