Vedic Kitchen Manners

Dear All,

I found the attached on the internet, and am sharing it here.
Hope it helps.
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Vedic Kitchen Manners
The kitchen is an extension of the altar, so whatever you do in the kitchen should be done with great care and attention for the Deities.
1.     Wear only clean, uncontaminated clothes in the kitchen. Clothes that have been eaten in or worn in the bathroom cannot be used. (Depends on the standards used in the particular temple.)
2.     Fingernails should be kept short. Wash your hands upon entering the kitchen before beginning your service.
3.     Never enter the kitchen in an unclean state.
4.     Don’t put anything in your mouth or touch anything to your mouth while in the kitchen. Don’t rinse your mouth or spit in the kitchen sinks.
5.     No eating or drinking in the kitchen.

6.     If you touch the floor, the waste bin or any of the openings of your body, wash your hands before touching anything else.

7.     No unnecessary talking in the kitchen, only Krishna katha or something directly related to what you are doing.

8.     If you are sick and have a bad cold, you should not work in the kitchen.

9.     It is important not to enjoy any of the preparations that are being prepared for Krishna’s enjoyment. You should not smell what is being cooked or even look at it with an enjoying spirit before it has been offered, what to speak of tasting it.

10.     Clean up the place you are about to work in and clean it up after you have finished.

11.     If a vegetable or cooking utensil falls on the floor, wash it off. If it falls on your foot, you may have to throw it away.

12.     Women should always keep their hair tied back and covered with a scarf. Men should make sure that their sikhaa is knotted.

13.     Don’t pass air or burp in the kitchen.

14.     Dogs and cats or pets are not allowed in kitchen. If you are a cook or a helper in kitchen, then do not let pets or animals touch you; and you do not touch pets or animals till cooking is done.

15.     Do not touch foods or food containers when your hands have touched pets or animals.

16.     Wash hands with soap before touching foods or food containers.
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Jai Sri Krishna!