Divine Community Food

I have watched some videos often yet they have kept me absorbed and glued on repeated watching. Long after the video is over, my mind dwells on issues relating to the subject.

I am a foodie. I love anything related to vegetarian food.
Ingredients, preparation, machinery, manual processes, taste, serving, packing, preserving, etc.

When I get free time or on a leisurely Sunday, like today, I watch videos of the mass roti making, plate-washing, serving, cleaning, etc., at the Golden Temple, Amritsar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbhmGkFvCBc&NR=1

This video is all about mechanically making rotis. 1600 rotis per hour.

There are other videos which show men cooking the daal/lentils with long stirrers and volunteers fetching buckets of daal or water and serving the hungry, who sit in a row.

It brings tears. Such a beautiful way of bonding with other humans through a simple act of sharing food, the community way. All are volunteers. Anyone can volunteer any work here, for as long as one likes.

I have not been there, yet my mind is there. Previously I used to read and imagine the scene of action. Thanks to youtube and to the videographers who share these, it is possible to actually see it in action.

I have a dream. A community kitchen which prepares only one item. A soup. This soup will have vegetables, lentils, some rice to thicken it with, salt, pepper, maybe some herbs to give it a nice aroma. To be distributed to the old and infirm who cannot prepare it themselves due to health constraints or those who do not have the luxury of a kitchen. Since it's more of a gruel, the elderly can enjoy this wholesome, nutritious meal, which will deliver some minerals through vegetables, some protein through lentils, some carbohydrates through the rice, besides salt, pepper and herbs which should enhance the taste. A gruel need not be bland. Not a bad idea at all for a social cause.

I pray to God to make my dream come true, someday, somewhere.

Cheers.

Mahalakshmi.