It is said that the cuisines are according to the principles or values at a place. If we are going to visit Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India, it is going to have a very different quality of cuisines. It comprises of East Asian cuisine. This food is eaten by monks. This food is also eaten by the believers of Chinese Buddhism. They can be called as vegetarians for vegans. This food is completely based on the concept of non-violence. Vegetarianism represents it. It is also followed in some other religions of the world like Sikhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. However, non-veg is also prominent and these relations. There is one more religion called Taoism that follows vegetarianism. It is also a trend that the Buddhist vegetarian diet is followed during religious celebrations only. I consider myself lucky enough to you go to Buddhist pilgrimage tour packages and have these vegetarian and pure cuisines.
Types of Cuisines
Buddhist cuisine is divided into Sushi, Chunsu, and Zhaicai. Sushi means vegetarian food. Chunsu means pure vegetarian food. Zhaicai means fasting food. These names are primarily used in China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and Vietnam. The concept to cook is the same in all the countries where Buddhism is followed including Korea, Thailand, and other countries.
Different Philosophies Governing Food
The philosophies that govern Buddhist food are our vegetarianism, simplicity, nature and some restrictions. It is understood that if we are dealing with God, we must eat vegetarian food. God does not permit the killing of anyone. Therefore non-vegetarian food is not allowed according to Buddhist vegetarianism. Simplicity is the other philosophy. You will not be getting different styles of food. It will be cooked simply and served simply. There are not many kinds of ingredients used in the vegetarian food of Buddhism. All the necessary spices and herbs that are required to live life healthy are used in it. Buddhist vegetarianism believes in cooking everything natural. It avoids all synthetic or artificial food items. Everything available naturally within the diameter of 30-50 kilometers is cooked.
Restrictions
Some certain Herbs and Spices are banned in Buddhist vegetarianism. There are some important divine reasons behind them. Garlic is banned. Apart from garlic, there are most of the plants that strongly smell; are banned for eating according to Buddhist vegetarianism. Some of such strong smell plants are asafetida, alien Chinese, shallot, mountain Leek, etc. All these are 5 acrid strong-smelling vegetables. The reason behind not eating them is this that they excite the five senses of human beings.
We are in a modern world and we love going out. If we are going to plan a holiday where there is a superb modern infrastructure and there is a lot of Continental or fast food, it will be almost similar to our home country or our city because today we are also living in quite modern society. But going to a spiritual place or pilgrimage site will give you a very different feeling altogether. This is how it will prove to be a wonderful break. If you are married and taking your kids along with you. You have a great opportunity to tell them something really good. These were all the new things that I learned on Buddhist pilgrimage tour packages India.