Posts tagged prasadam
FFL in Ecuador
Mar 5th
FFL Ecuador team serving pure food
January 2012 – Winter season came to Ecuador bringing torrential rains and suffocating waves of heat. However, the radical weather patterns were not enough to deter the FFL volunteers from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Taking time out from their busy family lives and business, the volunteers consistently devote time to the service others.
Over 500 people were waiting in the town of El Consuelo to experience the prasadam from Food for Life. The journey there from the FFL kitchen in Guayaquil takes almost two hours. Nonetheless, the volunteers enjoyed the spectacular scenery, watching the dramatic landscapes unfold before them, bedecked with flowers of all colors and lush green vegetation responding to the winter rainfalls. The journey took a little longer than anticipated and so some of the families went home. However, the FFL team immediately went to community leaders to announce from house to house of their arrival. Making use of the bells of a beautiful church, a large crowd once again gathered for lunch! Buckets of delicious vegan rice and lentil stew, pastries and herbal teas were being passed children and adults. The smiles and words of praise kept coming and mental images will last in our memory forever.
The following week, hundreds of others were the beneficiaries of a traditional vegan rice and lentil stew, fried sweets, and aromatic teas, prepared just hours before by a group of enthusiastic FFL volunteers.
Many members of the community and of other organisations join the FFL Ecuador team each week for the experience of distributing free vegan lunches. Some weeks, due to budget constraints, the FFL Ecuador team is only able to feed 300 people, but the joy of helping even a few people with a warm plate of food prepared with love is amazing! Our small gesture of kindness, melts the hearts of everyone and soon their love comes back to use in the form of hugs, laughter and finally running after our car as we try to leave!
Recently, the Addictions Rehabilitation Centre (ACE prison) was chosen as the place to serve our vegan meals. With the help of volunteer Jimmy Cassinelli, we were welcomed by the authorities and inmates of the place. This time, FFL cooks made a special menu of delicious fried rice with an equally rich chili sauce and aromatic drinks. At least 50 inmates enjoyed the experience of pure food made with love.
Information for this report and photos provided by Gopi Gandharvica
FFL Volunteers
To learn more about FFL in Ecuador, see their blog
Director of Food for Life gives FOOD YOGI workshop
Jul 4th
Paul Turner giving the Food Yogi Workshop
Taichung, Taiwan — June 24 – 27 — Australian born, Paul Turner (aka Priyavrata), director of Food for Life Global is currently on a tour of Asian countries presenting FOOD YOGI workshops. The 3 day course presents the philosophy of Food for Life as it relates to food choices, lifestyle, respect for nature and spirituality.
The presentation is based on notes from Turner’s yet to be published book, The YOGA of EATING — a 300 page manifesto of the Food Yogi lifestyle with a specific emphasis on introducing a Food Offering Meditation.
The idea behind the book was inspired by the founder of Food for Life, Swami Prabhupada, who said that “everyone should get a chance to take prasadam…” He believed strongly that through the liberal distribution of prasadam (food that is prepared with loving intention and then offered to God) the whole world could become peaceful and prosperous.” The meaning of this statement is that clean, non-violent foods that are prepared with loving intention have the ability to unite people in a loving bond. We all have experience of this when we sit down to a meal prepared with love on holidays.
The purpose of the Food Yogi course is to introduce students to the culture of spiritual hospitality and the importance of food on their spiritual journey. Students learn how to achieve optimum health by practicing the Food Yogi diet and lifestyle, which includes, what to eat, when to eat, water therapy, a food offering meditation, conscious eating and raw food demonstrations.
The Food Yoga workshop covers a variety of subjects, including:
- Metaphysics of food
- Sacred Foods and Alchemy
- Sacred Geometry of Food
- The importance of water
- Food Politics
- Spiritual Hospitality
- The 10 Characteristics of a Food Yogi
- Food Offering Meditation
- Conscious Eating
Raw vegan red grape cheesecake
Raw vegan avocado soup
Priya making a green smoothie
Every day is followed with a raw vegan food demonstration to show students that it is easy to prepare tasty, nutritious, good looking meals in minutes, including: Sprouting, salads dressings, green smoothies, energy drinks, live vegan soups, live vegan wraps, nut and seed pates and live vegan desserts.
To book your FOOD YOGI Workshop contact:
Comments or questions are welcome.
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“They were so happy!” – Food for Life in Japan
Apr 18th
APRIL 17th – Miyagi prefecture, Japan — Food for Life Global affiliates ISKCON Japan and Govindas Restaurant with the generous support of international and local donors embarked on a 5 hour car ride from Tokyo to five refugee shelters in North Eastern Japan. Cooks from the Govindas restaurant in Funabori (Tokyo) began cooking around 3.30am. At 5.30am a convoy of three SUVs filled with cooked food and fresh fruits and vegetables, left Govinda’s vegetarian restaurant, finally arriving at the first of five shelters in the Miyagi prefecture around 11am Sunday morning.
Distribution took place in the towns of Iwanuma, Watari and Natori which are all located in Miyagi prefecture.
“The people were so happy to receive the meal,” explained volunteers Purnima Shah and Arati Doshi. At most of the refugee shelters around Japan a typical meal consists of rice and miso soup. Food for Life’s tasty vegan curry, salad, snack bars, and bread was a welcome change.
Along with the cooked lunch, over 800 kgs of fresh fruit and vegetables were also donated including, lettuce, ninepin, daikon radish, carrots, potatoes, Green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, green peas, negi, ko negi, ingen, chingensai, horensou, shunpike, mizuna, reckon, satsumaimo, cabbage and 20 boxes of tomatoes, 600 bananas, 300 apple, 300 oranges and 200 grapefruits.
Some of the shelters also received face masks, goggles, toiletries, and other personal products.
Donations for the relief efforts came from:
- Food for Life Global 400,000 Yen
- Anup Agrawal 200,000 Yen
- Raghupati Rapelli 10,000 Yen
- Shrikant and Purnima Shah 161,000 Yen
- Sailesh and Arati Doshi (Fruits and vegetables)
- Vaisheshika Das 58471 Yen
- Sukhada Devi 16766 Yen
- Nirmal Yoga studio: 46000 Yen
- Vancha Atita Das (Hide Azuma): 10000 Yen
FFL Volunteers from Tokyo included: Madhumangal Das, Shrikant and Purnima Shah, Bhaktavatsal Das, Sailesh and Arati Doshi, Hide San, Chihiro Mataji, Nakamura San, Kumazawa San, Endo San, Tanahashi San Miseda San and Paul Turner.
They were assisted by local Volunteers: Fuda San and Sugawara San
See: FACEBOOK ALBUM
See: FFL Youtube Channel
Food for Life Global and it’s affiliates are planning to continue the distribution of vegetable curry and fresh fruits and vegetables on a weekly basis. Please support this work.
