A non religious "grace"?

[scarecrow22]

I'd like the family to say a "grace" before we eat. I love the moment of coming together, and stopping to appreciate what we have.

However, we(me, DH and two DC) do not practice a religion, and have varying relationships with Christianity.

Does anybody do this, and can you recommend a non-religious sentence or two to say in these circumstances?

I have my own idea, but it's not v imaginative!

Have you tried this new "religion" called "DVT" My daughter practices it!

What's that?

My DC and I share what we’re grateful for during our evening meal. We’re not religious but I like us to stop and appreciate the good things in our lives. Sometimes we forget but we remember most days.

The Japanese way is to say Itadakimasu before eating ( the 'u' vowel on the end is not usually voiced). It loosely translates to gratefulness for all that has provided the meal from the animal to the farmer to the cook. That is my understanding. I think it's a lovely word.

You could thank the ‘hands of God’ i.e. the cook/breadwinner before eating.

😂😂😂

The default grace I grew up with was "For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful". That could adapt very easily with a tweak of the second half.

How about waiting until everyone is served and sitting down, then everyone looks at the person who cooked and says "Thanks, Mum" (or Dad) before tucking in.

Our family practice is that nobody starts eating before everyone is served and sitting. I find it incredibly rude and unappreciative when people start eating while the person who cooked and served is still working.

Adams family grace is one option.

Or the Selkirk grace which is in Scots but essentially means 'some people have food and can't eat, some people don't have food but could eat. We have food and we can eat so thank the lord' obviously who you thank can change.

I think even if not at every meal acknowledging the privilege of being able to eat is a good message. 'I'm starving' has a very different meaning if you don't like what is on offer or even had to skip lunch versus not having eaten for a couple of days which is the reality for too many people.

The non religious one we used at school was "for this food we give thanks". Short but does the job.

May All Be Fed

May all be fed.
May all be healed.
May all be loved.
- John Robbins

I like the simplicity of this.

Rub a dub dub
Thank God for this grub

Thanks for some thoughtful, touching or delightfully funny (special commendation for @helpfulperson ).

My dad's school has a Latin grace: apparently universally ignored in favour of "Benedictus, bend your knee caps/ Sit down and get on with it." :)