Buddhist temple kitchens are the best places to practice. It's hot, messy, wet, and crowded. The conditions are ripe for testing the level of your progress in mindfulness.
The way kitchens in temple operate, the resident Sangha meaning the monks and nuns are in charge of how it's run. Specifically a master in charge of the kitchen either on a rotating basis or permanently. All deference in conflicts are settled by him or her. This does not mean the cook is in charge the assigned kitchen master is in charge.
The cooks can vary according the to the volunteer season and it always waxes and wanes. There has been many times where it boiled down to just me, washing and cutting preparing veggies and noodles for the cook to mix in dishes. Even after all are gone from the day's services, much shopping and preparing are done late into the hour for the next day by the resident monks and nuns actually living there in the temple for the next day's services.
Temples are 卍 vegan in most Mahayana Chinese Buddhists places in China and overseas. 卍 is the food industry notation for certifying vegan or vegetarian products free of animal and the 5 pungent vegetables mentioned in the Vinaya: garlic, onion, leeks, scallions, and shallots. Some places observe also no chives (garlic genus), asafoetida [Hindu: hing or devil's dung](Indian cuisine spice added to curry mixes and other dishes, very smelly) and no alcohol or tobacco. You may find cheese or eggs in some places.
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma3/vegi.html
Temples in the Theravada tradition and some other Mahayana traditions like Tibetan and Japanese use meat in their daily meals. It is acceptable. Now in modern times you see a nice mix of tastes, dishes, and variety of other countries foods and recipes around the world in many way places.
Ask before you donate food or spices to any temple about what is allowable there, it varies. Dietary concerns of the sangha residing there override traditions overseas, like those suffering from diabetes, heart disease or have allergies to certain foods. No different than in ordinary lay life.
When in doubt do not donate meats or eat meats in a temple. Most overseas Buddhists who live in in non-Buddhist countries are holding up a higher dietary rulers for the monastics in their way places than is held in their own countries due to ignorance or misunderstandings about the monastic diet.
Always ask before you offer food on the altars.
Always be respectful, do not eat while present at a service, if you need to eat go outside or into the dining hall. We had people walk into a middle of service and open up their McDonalds burgers on our table set up with sutras and people chanting the funerary service. It was very upsetting to the family, we had to rush them down to the kitchen table to finish their meals.
Buddhist kitchen
Some lay people have mixed observers in their families, so they have two sets of pots, pans and such for the meat eaters and the Buddhist vegans. I think this is too extreme and expensive but if you can afford it, and have extra space for doubling up then go ahead. However, Sangha do not do this, in our kitchens are basics and one set of them.
Read those labels on the spices, mixes, and such before you buy them.
Your going to get frustrated at all the commercial made vegan and vegetarian products because they contain all the forbidden pungents (garlic, onions, etc). Most people just buy them anyway. Taiwanese mock meats made for Buddhist consumers are relatively safe to purchase and you can find them online easily or on amazon. They have taken it to an art form. It's very tasty as I remember having some in NYC in my tonsure temple.
Commercially made Buddhist vegan products are required by US food laws to have certain preservatives in them, it's our laws, if you buy them and are trying to avoid some then read product labels first.
Hard but not impossible to make your own mock vegan meats. There is a wealth of free recipes online. Read their comments to make sure the recipes are tested and compare, adapt them to your own tastes.
Visit many temples and eat their fare (be sure to donate money for the meal, it's rather rude to eat and demand it for free when every single one of the devotees have given their donation ... stop being cheap!) This way you learn what you like and in what combinations.
Keep trying! You will enjoy better food and hopefully if you don't overdo the salt or overeat the good stuff a very satisfied life.
The way kitchens in temple operate, the resident Sangha meaning the monks and nuns are in charge of how it's run. Specifically a master in charge of the kitchen either on a rotating basis or permanently. All deference in conflicts are settled by him or her. This does not mean the cook is in charge the assigned kitchen master is in charge.
The cooks can vary according the to the volunteer season and it always waxes and wanes. There has been many times where it boiled down to just me, washing and cutting preparing veggies and noodles for the cook to mix in dishes. Even after all are gone from the day's services, much shopping and preparing are done late into the hour for the next day by the resident monks and nuns actually living there in the temple for the next day's services.
Temples are 卍 vegan in most Mahayana Chinese Buddhists places in China and overseas. 卍 is the food industry notation for certifying vegan or vegetarian products free of animal and the 5 pungent vegetables mentioned in the Vinaya: garlic, onion, leeks, scallions, and shallots. Some places observe also no chives (garlic genus), asafoetida [Hindu: hing or devil's dung](Indian cuisine spice added to curry mixes and other dishes, very smelly) and no alcohol or tobacco. You may find cheese or eggs in some places.
http://www.cttbusa.org/shurangama7/shurangama7.aspUrbhan Dharma website has various viewpoints on Buddhism and Vegetarianism with cited sources.
Sutra:
"Ananda, all living beings can live if they eat what is sweet, and they will die if they take poison. Beings who seek samadhi should refrain from eating five pungent plants of this world."
Commentary:
The five pungent plants have been described already.They are onions, garlic, leeks, scallions, and shallots.
http://www.ymba.org/bns/bnsframe.htm
4. On Five Pungent Herbs
A disciple of the Buddha should not eat the five pungent herbs -- garlic, chives, leeks, onions, and asafoetida. (44) This is so even if they are added as flavoring to other main dishes. Hence, if he deliberately does so, he commits a secondary offense.
44. Pungent herbs: "They are: leek, onion, garlic, and a few other such herbs such as asafoetida, an ingredient common in curries etc. Eaten raw they are believed to incite people to anger and disputes; eaten cooked they increase one's sexual desire." Buddhist adepts are advised to avoid them, as their consumption tends to disturb the peacefulness of the mind. "According to the [Surangama Sutra], garlic, three kinds of onions, and leeks are the five forbidden pungent roots. 'If eaten raw, they are said to cause irritability of temper, and if eaten cooked, to act as an aphrodisiac; moreover, the breath of the eater, if reading the sutras, will drive away the good spirits.'"
http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma3/vegi.html
From Ven. S. Dhammika (Australian BuddhaNet): Today it is often said that Mahayanists are vegetarian and Theravadins are not. However the situation is a little more complex than that. Generally Theravadins have no dietary restrictions although it is not uncommon to find monks and lay people in Sri Lanka who are strict vegetarians. Others abstain from meat while eating fish. Chinese and Vietnamese monks and nuns are strictly vegetarian and the lay community try to follow their example although many do not. Amongst Tibetans and Japanese Buddhists, vegetarianism is rare.
Temples in the Theravada tradition and some other Mahayana traditions like Tibetan and Japanese use meat in their daily meals. It is acceptable. Now in modern times you see a nice mix of tastes, dishes, and variety of other countries foods and recipes around the world in many way places.
Ask before you donate food or spices to any temple about what is allowable there, it varies. Dietary concerns of the sangha residing there override traditions overseas, like those suffering from diabetes, heart disease or have allergies to certain foods. No different than in ordinary lay life.
When in doubt do not donate meats or eat meats in a temple. Most overseas Buddhists who live in in non-Buddhist countries are holding up a higher dietary rulers for the monastics in their way places than is held in their own countries due to ignorance or misunderstandings about the monastic diet.
Always ask before you offer food on the altars.
Always be respectful, do not eat while present at a service, if you need to eat go outside or into the dining hall. We had people walk into a middle of service and open up their McDonalds burgers on our table set up with sutras and people chanting the funerary service. It was very upsetting to the family, we had to rush them down to the kitchen table to finish their meals.
Buddhist kitchen
Some lay people have mixed observers in their families, so they have two sets of pots, pans and such for the meat eaters and the Buddhist vegans. I think this is too extreme and expensive but if you can afford it, and have extra space for doubling up then go ahead. However, Sangha do not do this, in our kitchens are basics and one set of them.
Read those labels on the spices, mixes, and such before you buy them.
Your going to get frustrated at all the commercial made vegan and vegetarian products because they contain all the forbidden pungents (garlic, onions, etc). Most people just buy them anyway. Taiwanese mock meats made for Buddhist consumers are relatively safe to purchase and you can find them online easily or on amazon. They have taken it to an art form. It's very tasty as I remember having some in NYC in my tonsure temple.
Commercially made Buddhist vegan products are required by US food laws to have certain preservatives in them, it's our laws, if you buy them and are trying to avoid some then read product labels first.
Hard but not impossible to make your own mock vegan meats. There is a wealth of free recipes online. Read their comments to make sure the recipes are tested and compare, adapt them to your own tastes.
Visit many temples and eat their fare (be sure to donate money for the meal, it's rather rude to eat and demand it for free when every single one of the devotees have given their donation ... stop being cheap!) This way you learn what you like and in what combinations.
Keep trying! You will enjoy better food and hopefully if you don't overdo the salt or overeat the good stuff a very satisfied life.
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