Restrictions apply*

As the crescent moon rises this week, Muslims begin their period of restraint, when they can eat only "until the white thread of light becomes distinguishable from the dark thread of night at dawn".

- Mridula Ramesh

Then they fast, abstaining from food and water, until the moon rises again.

A few days from now, many Christians begin fasting too, for Lent. Some give up meat (or chocolate), others solid food; still others fast from sunrise to sundown.

Hindus fast more intermittently: on certain days of the week (Tuesdays are quite popular), or during some phases of the moon (Ekadashi for instance). Fasts vary here also: some abstain from meat and liquor, others stick to liquid food and fruit, while some consume no food at all. Navratri sees many fast until the evening offerings are made to the goddess. On Janmashtami, my grandmother ate nothing even as she prepared kilos of sweets, only breaking fast after the evening puja. Jains fast more often, more strictly and for longer.

All religions see fasting as progress on one's spiritual journey.

Fasting—in its splendid diversity—has been an essential part of life for humans over the millennia.

Is there more to it?

There is a whole slew of literature, scientific, statistical and popular, that shows that humanity may be overnourished today. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, processed by the website Our World in Data, shows that calories available per person has risen from 2,181 per day in 1961 to 2,959 in 2021. The averages conceal an enormous variation, but by most measures, the world is providing ample food for its masses.

In India, the same dataset shows that daily calories available per person rose from 1,570 in 1948 to 2,569 in 2021. That's a stupendous feat, considering our relatively low crop yields and ballooning population.

Only, now we may have too much of a good thing. The latest National Family Health Survey tells us fewer Indians are going hungry. Indeed, for the first time in records, a greater share of Indian women is overweight than underweight.