Prayer over food

[Anddenex]

On 3/3/2025 at 7:17 PM, zil2 said:

Giving thanks for food makes sense to me.  Giving thanks for the people who made it possible for you to have food makes sense to me.  Asking for those folks to be blessed makes sense to me.  Remembering those who are less fortunate and asking for help to be generous toward them and for God to bless them makes sense to me.

It does not make sense to me to ask for any particular food to be "nourishing and strengthening" - the nourishing and strengthening capacities of various foods seems to be a set thing, and your body's ability to take in nourishment or derive strength also seems to be a set thing.  Asking God to override or amplify these things seems foolish to me. ("God, I know this soda is full of high fructose corn syrup, but please bless it anyway so it'll be nourishing and strengthening to my mind and body and won't give me a sugar crash later, or contribute to me developing type 2 diabetes."  I mean, sure, you can try that, but I'm not sure it's going to work...)

Anyone have a good argument for why or how we should "bless" food?  Anyone have other thoughts on what should go into a prayer given at meal times / "over" food?

Humor first -- must watch.

Then serious. The purpose of food is to nourish and give means to strengthen our bodies. Some who is starving isn't receiving the proper nourishment nor strength they need. The main problem I see with this is that it is done by tradition. Most of us, including myself, saying to "nourish and strengthen our bodies" because that is what was traditional taught in the home. This means, we are repeating a statement without much thought. I think this is where it is wrong.

In that light, if we are sincere there is nothing wrong with the statement because food is to nourish and strengthen us. I'll take any bet against a guy who fasts for 48 hours or starves, and then he and I run a race and see who wins? I'll win that race 10 out of 10 times, unless he/she is an Olympic athlete. Why, because that body hasn't received the proper nourishment which provides strength to exert muscle exercise.

As to certain foods, yes, I think it is silly to pray for nourishment from Soda or other treats. To thank is a good thing. I mean, if a person is sincere, I assume, they could say, "Thank you for Diabetes Father, because it reminds me of all the good tasting treats I had in life. Better to life and die, then to not have lived at all." I mean if the prayer is sincere, who am I to make a false judgement?

My take away is this:
* Is it sincere or genuine
* Is it repetitive without thought
* And like the comedian, I'm not praying that you pass a drug test if you just dazed and confused all week before that, or at all.