If you say grace or have a prayer before eating, what do you say? All faiths/spiritualities welcome!

[la mamita]

I'm just curious what other families do. If you want to specify what faith tradition or spirituality you are coming from, feel free.

As a child, we said:
Earth, we thank you for this food,
for rest and home and all things good,
for wind and rain and sun above,
but most of all for those we love.

I know the traditional Catholic prayer is:
Bless us oh Lord
and these thy gifts
which we are about to receive
from thy bounty
through Christ our Lord, amen.

My Catholic and very comedic grandfather used to joke around and say:
Good food, good meat,
good God, let's eat.

I just read somewhere about using the Johnny Appleseed song as grace:
The Lord is good to me
and so I thank the Lord
for giving me the things I need
the sun and rain and the appletrees,
the Lord is good to me.
(There are more verses too)

[firefrenzy]

I am Christian and I sometimes use

God is Good, God is great

Let us thank him for our food.

By his hands, we are fed

Give us Lord our daily bread.

Amen

But most of the time I just give my own words of thanks and blessing.  However, I know a billion songs for grace from camp as a child and from working as a camp counselor. 

[Trigger]

We used to do the "Bless us O lord ... " prayer, but it became so rote that I didn't like it.  There was no real feeling, just a drone.

Now, we begin by blessing ourselves, and one of the kids volunteers to pray about the things he/she is thankful for in that day, including of course the food.  We might also mention someone or something that especially needs Our Father's grace and blessing that day.  The kids seem to like it, and I like that it makes them really think about what they are thankful for that day.  I'm also proud that they are learning to formulate prayer on their own, and that they are doing a fabulous job of that.

We have suspended the above practice for the season of Advent, and we are using a great booklet called Grace Upon Grace: Catholic Family Prayers for Each Day of Advent. Each reading begins with a short reflection & Scripture passage (to be read by a child), then a longer reflection which is read by a parent, then ends with a prayer read by a child, with a recitation of the Lord's Prayer rounding out the entire thing. 

[freestylemama]

I was raised Catholic and always said the, "Bless us O Lord" prayer.

My kiddo learned a sweet one at Sunday school that we sometimes say at home, "Thank you for the world so sweet.  Thank you God for the birds and trees.  Thank you for the food we eat.  Thank you God for everything".  She's 3, so this is her version.  She does hand moves with it. I have no idea how it was taught to her.  We're UCC if that matters. 

[Earthy Birthy]

Here is our family food blessing:

Bless this food and all the hands that touched it. This food is to nourish my body.

I'd like to work something else in about blessing the animals too...

[Bluegoat]

When I was a little girl, my Nana always used

Thank you for the food we eat.

Thank you for the world so sweet.

Thank you for the birds that sing.

Thank you God for everything. Amen"

Now, we sometimes use the Johnny Appleseed  one, or occasionally if things are really harried,

"For these and all his many mercies, may the Lord make us truly thankful"

or

Bless O Lord this food to our use, and us to thy service, and make us ever mindful of the needs of others.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

But most of the time we use this, from the psalms:

Leader:The eyes of all wait upon thee O Lord;

Answer: And thou givest them their meat in due season.

Leader: Thou openest thine hands;

Answer: And fillest all things living with plenteousness.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

Answer: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.  World without end. Amen

[umsami]

As Muslims, we say, "Bismillah" or "Bismillah ar Rahman ar Rahim" which means "In the name of God" or "In the name of God, the most Gracious, the most Merciful"

My Aunt, a nice Lutheran lady who also taught PreK and Kindy for 20 years, taught my kids this little grace, "A-B-C-D-E-F-G thank you God for feeding me." (Sung to the ABC song tune.)  

Muslims also say "Alhamdullilah" at the end of eating (or drinking)... which means, "All praises are to God" or basically "Thank you God."

Oh....growing up (Presbyterian)....we used to say, "For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen."

Edited by umsami - 12/14/10 at 10:58am

[homestyle]

Jewish here. We say different blessings depending on what food or foods we are about to eat. One thing that I've always found interesting is that we bless God (rather than asking for a blessing ourselves). So when we eat bread, we wash our hands, and then (in Hebrew) bless God, "who has brought forth bread from the earth." Also, when we eat bread, we say a longer grace -- but it comes AFTER the meal has ended. There are wonderful melodies for this grace after the meal ... it takes maybe ten minutes to sing it all, and is a wonderful way to end a communal meal. 

[Katala]

Originally Posted by la mamita 

I just read somewhere about using the Johnny Appleseed song as grace:
The Lord is good to me
and so I thank the Lord
for giving me the things I need
the sun and rain and the appletrees,
the Lord is good to me.
(There are more verses too)

I used to attend Quaker meetings a few years back and we would sing this as grace.

The prayer I say now is a verse from the Bhaghavad Gita (V. 4.24)

Brahmarpanam brahmahavir
Brahmagnau brahmana hutam
Brahmaiva tena gantavyam
Brahma-karma-samadhina
Om vishvatma-priyatam
Om shanti, shanti, shanti

Translation:

May I remember the truth: That the food being offered is Brahman, the individuals offering the food are Brahman, and the very process of offering itself is also Brahman. Therefore, we perform this offering with full awareness of Brahman alone. May this entire act of cooking, serving, and eating be transformed into sadhana, the spiritual practice leading us all toward Brahman, the highest goal of life. Through this offering, may the universal consciousness, which pervades and permeates our individual consciousness, be worshipped and satisfied. OM, peace, peace, peace.

Although my other favorite prayer is one that I learned from my (Catholic) father who learned it from his father (A convert to Catholicism):

"In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, whoever eats the fastest, gets the most. Amen."

[mamatowill]

I am United Church of Canada/Anglican. The prayer we have taught our children is one I learned as a young child.

Our hands we fold,

Our heads we bow,

For food and drink we thank thee now.

In Jesus's name we ask it.

Amen

[pampered_mom]

I guess you'd say that we self-identify Christian.  We really like:

We gather round the table,

Where bodies are renewed,

Where hearts appease their hunger,

For we feast on more than food.

I think I found it in "Seven Times the Sun" by Shea Darian or something like that.

[Lisa85]

Well, we're not particularly religious and for whatever reason family members like to call us out to say grace.  But these are the ones we tend to say.

Rub-a-dub-dub

Thanks for the grub

Yaay, God!

Good Bread

Good Meat

Good God, Let's Eat!

[Amatullah0]

Originally Posted by Lisa85 

Well, we're not particularly religious and for whatever reason family members like to call us out to say grace.  But these are the ones we tend to say.

Rub-a-dub-dub

Thanks for the grub

Yaay, God!

Good Bread

Good Meat

Good God, Let's Eat!

As Muslims, we say Bismillah(in the name of God) before eating or drinking the tiniest thing, not just before meals, but we can make it longer, usually by saying(usually in arabic) O God! Bless everything you have given us, and protect us from Hellfire.(then say bismillah)

[Toolip]

I love this thread :)

[KiwiZ]

Originally Posted by Toolip 

I love this thread :)

Me too!

Our family is Christian, our girls are 9 and 7. We go around the table and let whoever wants to pray aloud pray.  We don't have a prayer we use over and over, we lift up whatever happened that day that we are grateful for and thank God for that.  Sometimes we forget to thank God for the actual food and go back for a quick second prayer

[revolting]

We are an interfaith family. To the tune of "Frere a Jacques" or however you spell it, we sing:

We are thankful

We are thankful

For our food

For our food

And our many blessings

And our many blessings

Amen

Amen

[Linda on the move]

My husband is atheist and I'm follow yoga as a spiritual practice.

We go around the table and each say something from our day that we are grateful for. It often flows into a nice dinner conversation.

[anj_rn]

Depends on who is praying.  My DS does several of the little kids prayers.  If it is one of us, we do not have a formula, just usually thank G-d for the food and the hands that prepared it.  For a while, my DS would specifically thank G-d for each item on the plate (hank you for the broccoli, and the fish...)  Once after DD was in the hospital for a week, he added and thank you that mommy cooked the food because she makes it tasty.

[katelove]

My family is Christian. When we were little we used to say "Thank you Jesus for our dinner. Amen." I'm not sure where it came from. These days it is freeform but usually includes saying thank you for the food, the people who prepared it, and the company and asking God to be with people who are notably absent. We sometimes also mention specific things for which we are particularly thankful. That sounds like it's really long but it usually isn't. It might be something like "Father God, thank you for a great day today. Thank you that we can all be together tonight. Please be with [absent relative] and take care of them. And thank you now for this food. In Jesus' name, Amen."

[meemee]

non christians here. 

usually 3 parts to our prayers.

can happen in any order

1. this one is always there - its teh essential part of our thanks and dd's fav. part - thank all those who gave up their life to provide nourishment for our bodies. 'all those' = plants and animals and all those who worked hard to put the food on our table - includes truckers, farmers, cook, etc. 

2. may it provide nutrition for our body hearts and mind. and may all impurities turn into necessary nutrients

3. any other piece you want to add. holpes, desires.... related to food. like when gpa was ill pray for him and that he has the strength to take in the nourishment.

btw we started 'grace', 'thank you' - or whatever you may call it when dd was 4 when she heard someone else say grace at the table and she thought it was a great idea to just be thankful before eating.