In his book Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living, Thich Nhat Hanh offers meditations from the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition for tasks such as brushing one’s teeth and washing one’s hands. Here is a way to bring a meditative, reflective attitude to the everyday, physical experience of eating.

Instructions

• Choose two fruits or vegetables that everyone in the family can eat—for example, strawberries and carrots. Get enough for everyone to have one of each.
• Wash the strawberries and carrots. Slice them and arrange them on simple trays or plates. Use a separate tray for each fruit or vegetable.
• Gather silently in a circle and sit down.
• Pass the tray of strawberries. invite each person to take one and slowly, quietly chew it. encourage everyone to take their time, to chew thoroughly and deliberately, to fully experience texture and flavor. Ask them to imagine the earth, the sun, the water, and the air that nurtured the strawberry. invite everyone to taste the sunlight in the strawberry.
• When everyone is done, pass the tray of carrots, with the same instructions.
• Share a moment of silence.
• Then, talk about what it was like to eat such simple foods silently, together. what new understandings came about strawberries? About carrots? About food and eating?
• Can you imagine eating a whole meal in mindful silence? why or why not?