Though we are a Christian family having Japanese roots we love a Buddhist blessing. Translated it is something like this: "For every grain of rice we are thankful for 1000s of workers. For every drop of rain we are thankful for God's blessings. Amen."
-toddb
My favorite is a simple Jewish prayer, "Blessed art thou O Lord my G-d, King of the universe, who brings forth the bread from the earth".
-LeoBesser
Before the meal we pray: "Come Lord Jesus, Be our guest, And let these gifts to us be blest. Amen." Following the meal we pray: "We thank thee Lord for meat and drink, In Jesus' name we pray."
-lutherrocks
Creator, Sustainer and Life-giver, Bless this food to our use, and us to your service, make us grateful for all your mercies, and mindful of the needs of others. Amen.
-BeliefnetMember
An old Scottish blessing: Some hae meat and cannae eat. Some nae meat but want it. We hae meat and we can eat and sae the Lord be thankit. Translated: Some have meat and cannot eat. Some no meat but want it. We have meat and we can eat and [so the Lord be thanked].
-etaggel
We start dinner by all holding hands and saying "Bless us O Lord and for These Thy Gifts which we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen." If we want to add a special prayer we say "Father God we thank you for all your good gifts and blessings and we want to lift up (name) to you." Amen.
-Barbat11
Smudging the food and self with sage smoke we say "We thank Great Spirit for the resources that made this food possible; we thank the Earth Mother for producing it, and we thank all those who labored to bring it to us.May the Wholesomeness of the food before us, bring out the Wholeness of the Spirit within us."
-revwhiteeagle
My parents taught me this growing up: God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for our food. By his hand, we are fed, Give us, Lord, our daily bread. Amen
-Gayle1223
I was raised Protestant, and the blessing was "Bless Us O Lord, for these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ Our lord, AMEN." Since becoming an adult, I have embraced the beautiful religion of Wicca and although my concepts of the Divine/Higher Power have changed, I still say a silent "off the top of my head" thank you prayer, such as "Thank you God and Goddess for all that you have provided. We are forever grateful for your blessings in our lives. So mote it be."
-WiccaMagick
We as Mormons believe that a prayer should always be reverent and come from the heart. Meaning... Whatever your heart says to say for whatever prayer you would be having. But first to always say thank you. 2nd to bless. 3rd to ask. And to end the prayer to the One who taught us about prayer.
-Jrew
"Lord bless this food to our use and us to Thy service, and make us ever mindful of the needs of others.Amen."
-Father_Currie
A Hindu blessing:
This ritual is one. The food is one. We who offer the food are one. The fire of hunger is also one. All action is one. We who understand this are one.
-birdwatcher
My fav., which is a funny one, comes from my 4-yr. old step-son, and that is, "Dear God, we're fixin' to eat. Amen." Karen
-BTAOGH
This is our kids favorite: Thank you God for happy hearts for rain and sunny weather. Thank you God for this food and that we are together. Amen
-bethards
My daughter learned this prayer in pre-school, and it's been our table blessing ever since: We love our bread, We love our butter, But most of all, We love each other, Thank you LORD for our food. Amen
-jncrotty
This blessing is childlike in its simplicity but encompasses so much:
Thank you for the world so sweet. Thank you for the things we eat. Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you, God, for everything.
-Jophiel
This is a favorite simple childs prayer."Father bless the food we take and bless us all for Jesus sake, Amen."
-blessings2u
My youngest son always picks this prayer when it is his turn to say the blessing. Dear God, Please bless these sinners as they eat their dinners, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
-karengardner
As children, we invented our own before meal prayer! It went like this: "We thank G-d for all the food placed before us & pray that there will be Peace on earth. Amen." Having had numerous pets, some whom ran away, we often added "And may so & so please come home soon."
-palomabunny
A favorite of mine was one my son came up with when he had to say grace because he had started eating without saying grace first: Forgive me Lord, I'm a little late. Bless the food that I just ate!
Bless this bunch. Bless this lunch.
-jmcain
"Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub. Yeah, God!"
-revrick
For health and food and love of friends, For everything the good Lord sends. Father, we thank thee.
-mmqueen
I think my personal favorite is: God's neat, lets eat!
-Aril
I learned this one in college...a feisty old nun taught it to a whole bunch of college kids... "Good food, Good meat, Good God, Let's eat." During the Fridays in Lent the prayer was changed..."Good food, No meat, Good God, Let's eat."
-sergeintexas
Being the clown of the family, I had a favorite of my own: Dear God, Holy Ghost, whoever eats the fastest, gets the most! My parents didn't appreciate it, of course.
-earlybirdgetstheworm
Back in Girl Scout days we sang the "Johnny Appleseed blessing" taken from the American folktale: Oh, the Lord is good to me, And so I thank the Lord, For giving me the things I need, The sun, and the rain, and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me.
-cokielynn
My family often has silent grace when each of us talks to the One who is truly listening. After a few moments, my husband says, "Amen." If someone isn't finished praying, we wait respectfully until he/she is, then carry on with the meal.
-Mel55
From forest and stream, from mountain and fields, from the fertile Earth's nourishing yields, I now partake of the Divine Energy; may it lend me health strength and love.
-SilverSkye
Sung: For the golden corn and the apple on the tree, For the golden butter and the honey from the bees, For the fruits and nuts and berries we gather on our way, We praise the loving Mother (Earth) and thank Her everyday.
-loumom
Today may we appreciate this food and remember those who are hungry. May we appreciate our family and friends and remember those who are alone. May we appreciate our health and remember those who are sick. May we appreciate the freedoms we have and remember those who suffer injustice and tyranny. Peace on earth. Amen
-LisetteFC
My favourite table blessing comes from camping days in Guiding. It is meant to be sung: Back of the bread is the flour, And back of the flour is the mill, And back of the mill is the wind and the rain, And the Father's will.
-bubaloo
Earth that gives us all this food, Sun that makes it ripe and good. Dearest Earth and dearest Sun. We won't forget what you have done. on this food. Amen.
-runninonfaith
As an adult & a vegetarian (for the last 23 years) I use: "We thank G-d for all the food placed before us for which no living creature has been sacrificed & may there be Peace on earth Amen."
-palomabunny
