“yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat

   yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad-arpanam”

“Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform—do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me, ” explains Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita.

Eating food is a basic necessity in life, perhaps one of the most basic of all. Even modern science attests to the fact that we are affected physically, emotionally and mentally by the food we eat. Yet there is one more realm to food, beyond this basic understanding, that the world seems to have forgotten: its transcendental nature.

The Vedas give us a name for this highest perfection of food: prasadam or ‘the mercy of God. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tells us of prasadam, “Everyone has tasted these material substances before, but now these same ingredients have taken on extraordinary flavours and uncommon fragrances.”

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This unique taste and flavor of prasadam lies in its very definition. Prasadam is food that is offered to the Supreme Personality, Lord Krishna, who, in His mercy, accepts our offering and by doing so, purifies the food. Prasadam is no different from Krishna himself and simply by eating it, we can know Krishna. Considered the perfection of vegetarianism, eating prasadam leads one to the highest state spiritual realization.

Prasadam distribution, therefore, is at the heart of ISKCON-Bangalore’s philosophy and this fact echoes through every one of the many food stalls within the temple. A big team of cooks are involved in the cooking which is supported by another team which exclusively takes care of maintaining the cleanliness of the kitchen premises. The items so cooked in well maintained kitchens are offered to the Lord and then made available to the thousands daily visitors to the temple as prasadam.

A food laboratory experiments with new recipes every day, adapting the world’s many cuisines to the temple’s strictly Vaishnava style of cooking. With nearly 1200 well researched recipes used to prepare the food, the temple cuisine is unique to Bangalore, bringing in an eclectic mix of tastes and flavours to its many signature dishes. Quality and hygiene are also of utmost importance to the highly dedicated team. Regular, as well as random quality checks ensure that the best quality food is offered to the Lord. 

By showcasing its sattvic culinary skills for people through its many food stalls, the temple aims to demonstrate that anything in the vegetarian kingdom can be cooked and distributed as prasadam, including sweets, juices and cakes of a wide variety.

ISKCON’s bakery, the largest in Bangalore to make purely eggless products, is renowned for its exquisite cakes. From the most traditional food to its more modern dishes, ISKCON provides prasadam for a variety of tastes and preferences.

“The ultimate aim is to make people eat Krishna prasadam, which nourishes spiritual intelligence. We give a variety of dishes so that people may be attracted to the food of their liking,” says Sri Chitranga Chaitanya Dasa, head of ISKCONs prasadam distribution initiative. He explains that with this in mind, the temple recently opened a new restaurant called ‘The Higher Taste’ Bangalore’s first sattvic cuisine restaurant; following the temple’s culture of experimentation it combines modern and ancient Indian cooking styles to bring out new and exciting flavours. It provides a fine dining experience, reviving many of ancient India’s cooking techniques for more modern palates, taking one an a journey through antiquity and spirituality, all in the comfort of its elegant décor. Like every initiative of the temple, The Higher Taste restaurant is also a part of ISKCON’s aim to distribute prasadam to all, thereby guiding them to spiritual enlightenment and happiness.

As Srila Prabhupada tells us in his purport of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, “The human being is meant for self-realization, and for that purpose he is not to eat anything that is not first offered to the Lord.”