Soul Food

I had a great day just noodling around with my friend Alissa today in Melbourne. We discovered a little sunken fern garden in King's Domain that I either didn't know existed, or had forgotten about. Alissa noted that it feels like a spiritual place, and she's right. I instinctively felt I should be quiet, contemplative, and thoughtful and deliberate in my movements. That's why I felt outraged at the (multiple) groups of people who entered the garden talking (or in one case, yelling) loudly, seemingly oblivious of their surroundings. Their behaviour felt suitable to a shopping mall or busy street — certainly not to this place.

There are other ways to be spiritual, of course. On the way back to the train station, we passed a Sikh food truck. They were offering free vegetarian food in the spirit of Langar. It was probably delicious, but neither of us took up the offer. I was reminded of Rick Stein visiting a temple (Hindu, I believe) in Episode 3 of "Rick Stein's India", the first time I became aware of the Indian tradition of free temple food. In both Hindu and Sikh tradition (i.e. in the broader Indian tradition), meals are provided free of charge to anyone who wants one, no questions asked and nothing else required. I can't help but contrast this with European (and diaspora) approaches to such "charity" that either insist on qualification ("deserving poor"), some kind of supplication by the recipient (Work House / Salvation Army style), or provide food within the framework of atomic individuals or "nuclear families" (food banks).

I don't want to romanticise this. India is a land of disgusting luxury literally next door to outrageous squalor. Clearly 500 years or more of Langar hasn't changed the realpolitik or economic structure of the subcontinent in a sustainable way. But there's still something profoundly civilised in the idea that if people are hungry they should simply be fed, without needing to enquire any further into their individual or particular circumstances. I wrote a while ago about Callum Can't "Riding for Deliveroo: Resistance in the new economy", and the interview Callum did with Paris Marx. His vision of free canteens that offer a healthful, hot meal to anyone who needs one sounds very similar to the free meals offered at Sikh and Hindu temples. And what they're offering is usually roti or rice with vegetarian dahl — I defy anyone to tell me this isn't delicious food. The thing I notice the most about the Indian approach, however, is (that word again — sorry not sorry), the communal nature of it. This is not (unlike today's covid-influenced offering) a single-wrapped, individualised offering. When you eat Langar you eat it with hundreds or thousands of other people. It's not just a free meal, it's a communal meal. And the funny thing is, even in the Christian tradition this is important — the Last Supper being the most iconic example.

The reason I seem slightly obsessed with communal life is exactly because so much of modern "western" living is "being alone together" — thousands or millions of people in the same spaces, yet with no sense of collective responsibility for each other. With Alissa's help I'm beginning to see that this is a spiritual defecit, and that "spiritual" doesn't need to mean "religious". It's not nearly so constrained as that. Lots to think about, as usual.

=> Langar | Rick Stein's India: Madurai and Kerala | In Pictures: Kitchen that feeds 100,000 daily

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