Modest breakfast and lunch with evening fasting is the Buddhist way of healthy living

As the legend goes, one day, a farmer woman, Sujata, offered the starving Siddhartha a bowl of sweet and nourishing milk-rice pudding, kheer, to end his six-year asceticism. As he ate, he realized that neither indulgence nor deprivation, but a middle way, would lead to enlightenment.

It said after that the Buddha took to moderate and modest daily morning yagu gruel (porridge made of oat, barley or rice, salt, curd, fruits, and leaves - ' 'namkeen daliya'; midday meal of rice, curry of root and climber vegetables, dal, fresh fruit pudding followed by evening repast of fruit juice. It was like fasting after lunch to stay healthy and free from illness.

However, special vegetarian cuisine or dish called "Buddha's Delight" is now traditionally enjoyed by Buddhist monks staying in the monasteries and also served as vegetarian Buddhist meal in restaurants. The dish consists of various vegetables and other vegetarian ingredients cooked slowly with stirring in soy sauce-based liquid with other seasonings until vegetables become tender.

The ingredients are bamboo shoots, beans, mushrooms, cabbages, carrots, some seasonal vegetables, along with day-lily buds, dry fruits, peanuts, and lotus seeds.