Ruth Harris

“Cooking was creative, but also a quotidian process of transformation, central to Vivekananda's maternal relationship to his disciples. He bragged to his Bengali friends about his culinary prowess: 'Last night I made a dish. It was such a delicious mixture of saffron, lavender, mace, nutmeg, cubebs [a java pepper with a tang of allspice], cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cream, lime juice, onions, raisins, almonds, peppers, and rice ....' He adored spices, but also loved sweetness, as the ingredients to this recipe suggests. In California, he taught his disciples to make rock candy, which he boiled and boiled to ensure its purity. For him, it symbolized the sweetness vital to his spiritual lessons.”
― Ruth Harris, Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda

“With Landsberg, Vivekananda had resumed vegetarianism and was happy to eat simply after the dinner parties and receptions. But Landsberg could not appreciate how cooking could be in some sense sacred, not least because Vivekananda was also a messy cook and Landsberg hated having to clean up after him: 'I regarded it as unworthy of men of spiritual aspirations to waste the greatest part of their time with thinking and speaking of eating, preparing and cooking the food, and washing dishes, while the frugal meals required by a Yogi could be had quicker and cheaper in any restaurant .... I only wonder that this 'doing our own cooking' suggested by some evil demon, did not land me in the lunatic asylum.”
― Ruth Harris, Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda