Saying Grace at mealtimes

[TheTecknician]

This is something that went on in my primary school (first two years only) nearly fifty years ago and I believe is still a custom among Christians, at least in the USA. I just wondered if it is also a custom beyond Christianity ? Obviously I wouldn't expect atheists to participate but perhaps Jews and Muslims as they are Abrahamic along with Christians?

I'm not religious myself, just curious. Thankyou.

My family always said it before our (very relaxed and really pretty secularly Jewish) Shabbat dinner every Friday, and I still do the same if I’ve invited friends over for dinner on a Friday; but it’s less grace and more “let’s be thankful that we have this food and each other when plenty have not been so fortunate.” At school we always said “thank-you god for the food to eat” before lunch.

Grace is said at every evening meal when we visit our friends and their family in the USA.

At my Catholic school I think it went "Bless us O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from Thy Bounty, Through Christ our Lord, Amen"

At university we sang Latin Grace at formal meals...sit nomen domine, benedictum....

As a child at both home and school.
A friend is a member of the Mormon church and he does, even if out with non Mormon friends.

My Irish father in law said grace before all meals.

I sometimes sing Johnny Appleseed for laughs.

Only ever said it in primary school in the 90s.

I'm not remotely religious, but I've occasionally thought it would be nice to routinely take a moment before eating a meal to appreciate how lucky we are.

That's a very odd grace, an agnostic one perhaps, hedging its bets. The Lord is thankful, not the people about to eat?

The parents of a friend in Rome sang grace before each meal, so memorably that I can sing it 40 years later. Its meaning was pretty much 'For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful'.

I teach in NZ and students say a non-religious karakia before they eat as a group. If we are eating together as a staff we say it as well.

I grew up attending chapel teas where we sang grace before and after eating.

Muslims don't have grace as such, just lots of prayers for daily things. At mealtimes, it's: bismillahi wa'alaa barakatillah which roughly translates to, 'In the name of Allah, with the blessings of Allah'. If one forgets to say this at the beginning of a meal, they can say it at the end.

She just heard it a bit wrong- she was 5 or 6.

We do, before every meal or sit down eating time. Questioning now if I’ve ever even eaten an unblessed meal! 😂

You aren't the only one. 😁

i have a lovely laminated prayer card with the grace on it, tucked by my african violet. i do my best to remember to say it before meals and throughout the day, honestly there are so many things to be grateful for. i have a few friends that say grace at their homes prior to group get togethers (dinner or birthday's where food is served) i'm in canada.

We said, "Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts which of thy bounty we are about to receive, through Christ our Lord, Amen".
After lunch it was, "We give thee thanks Almighty God for all thy benefits, who livest and reignest, world without end, Amen."
Some misheard and were thankful for elephants, not benefits.
There's nothing wrong with gratitude for elephants, obv.

I went to a church primary school in the 1980s. Without fully understanding what it meant I had to say forwotweareaboutreceivemaythelordmakeustrulythankfulahMEN before eating my packed lunch. We never said grace at home. But we weren't properly CofE either. In secondary school there was no such obligation.

I think we went to the same school and at a similar time.

Thankyou all. So many variations on a theme. Apart from one Dutch family on holiday years ago and the occasional wedding reception, grace/blessings is something I don't really come across. I suppose it's largely a domestic or family thing.

I don't, I just stated that I have never heard anyone say it, at any place I've been.

At school we had the "For what we are about to receive...".

My college at university had grace in Latin before formal meals, "Domine omnipotent...".

Since then I've become a Christian. We always give thanks before meals now in my family. But different words each time, and usually we thank God for what's on our hearts, and for the food, and most of all for Jesus or for saving us.

My dad had a tough childhood. I liked his after-meal prayer:

We thank the Lord for what we’ve had, although it was very small,
If we’d had some more, we would have eaten some more, and thanked the Lord for it all!

Learned it at primary school in the 1960s. I don’t say grace (and am not a believer) but it’s a nice idea to pause and be grateful before eating. I’ve only come across it since then at formal dinners eg professional society annual dinner type of event.

But starting your meal before everyone has been served and is sitting down ready to eat - just plain rude and ill-mannered. You don’t need to say grace to know that.

1970s Primary/Junior

Thank for for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat. Thank you for the birds that sing, thank you God for everything. Amen

(Never heard a bird sing due to being deaf but anyhow)

Late 1980s: Baptist Church on Gap year. Grace before every meal, holding hands and in restaurants.

As a visitor, didn’t push back on beliefs and joined in as an act of diplomacy.

@Ifailed oh ok that makes sense - I took it as never heard OF anyone saying it - not literally out loud saying it 🙂