What I love about this word is, while it’s roots are Buddhist, it’s meaning does not exclude any specific religion nor turn off the non-religious. While those who believe in God may automatically interpret this as a nod toward God, as I did, its intended meaning does not necessarily assume that God is in the picture at all.
Reflecting the Buddhist principle of respect for all living
things, itadakimasu is a recognition
of all the living beings that contributed to my ability to consume a meal—from
the plants and animals that may have been used to make it, to the farmer or
hunter or grocer or factory worker or cook or all of the above who were crucial
to the process of this food being placed upon my table.
To integrate this phrase into my own world of understand, I ask, what are the dominant attitudes that I have experienced regarding the same act of consuming food?
A bowl of strawberries I was given from a friend I made in Nagaoka--they were grown in Nagaoka, she proudly told me in broken English. |
Yes, it brings God into the picture, which for me as a
Christian is good. However, it also
leaves me feeling that somehow this food or material item dropped directly from
heaven and into my hands. It does not
bring to my mind the expansive community
that I belong to, the people I am now
intimately connected to, because of my consumption of this product.
Then there’s the attitude that many of us were directly or
indirectly taught, that of entitlement: I am able to eat this food because I
worked for it and I deserve it. This is
especially true when we indulge in some luxury—I can eat this chocolate because
I deserve it!
Not that we shouldn’t reward good behavior, but this attitude
again cuts me off from the rest of society.
Not only did I work hard to
earn this, but somebody else, or perhaps many people, have worked just as hard
so that I could be rewarded. And, unfortunately in many cases with our
food today, the people involved in the processes of food production have not
been rewarded in proportion to their labor.
As a Christian it becomes easy to just shrug sympathetically and say that their sacrifice will be rewarded in heaven, but this kind of lets us off the hook. Though we are not of the world, we are in the world, which requires us to be stewards of creation and promoters of the peace and justice and hope and love characteristic of the Kingdom of God.
Setting aside my predisposition toward blessings and entitlement,
I can begin to appreciate the deeper meaning that, “Itadakimasu/I humbly
receive,” evokes in me, and let it transform the way I think and live.
Now, I haven’t spent enough time in Japan to see if words
translate to action. But I have been
touched by the humble gratitude expressed in such a simple word.
For me it reaches beyond just a feeling of abstract
gratitude and calls us to greater consciousness. It helps us to remember that we are not an
island, but an intricately connected community.
It brings to mind issues of justice and respect for life that we rarely
prompt ourselves to think about, all before the first delicious bite of food
enters our mouths.
A young boy paying respects to the temple of Buddha. |
Scott and I enjoying Japanese cuisine.... french fries with chopsticks :) |
Recognizing my limitations in expressing my full gratitude, I humbly receive.
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