From the simple stringing together of lemon garlands for the goddess Durga to dividing the prasadam or blessed foods for the children first I came to associate food not only with feminity but also with purity and divinity.
To me there is something superbly symbolic in the fact that an astronaut sent up as assistant to a series of computers found that he worked more accurately and more intelligently than they. Inside the capsule man is still in charge.