ABSTRACT
Arrangements for food and for feeding are among the clearest indicators of the understanding of purity and pollution which is integral to a people's world-view. In traditional Indian society eating, drinking and smoking are moments when there is a particular danger of pollution, through eating or drinking the wrong foods, or foods that have been prepared by polluted people, or through contact with impure people, or through sharing the meal with people who are ritually and socially impure. Pollution is conveyed powerfully through the company one keeps while eating. A strict Brahmin would not eat or drink at Brahmin coffee stall, not because of any doubt about the purity of the food, but because of the danger of pollution from other diners of lower status and ritual purity. The significance of Jesus' table fellowship which broke through the barriers of purity and pollution which were obstacles to any expression of inclusive fellowship, can hardly be exaggerated.
