Who do you thank for the food on your table?

[Valentine]

I'm very curious about this. Do you thank your gods/goddesses for the food on your table or do you thank the people that work for it (this may include yourself)?  I know that the vast majority on here are educated, well-informed persons... who know that food does not appear on the grocery store shelf without the hard work of someone else.

 
My basic meal grace is, with small variations, "Mighty upwelling of life, merciful guarantor of death, for the lives that feed my life, and the deaths that feed my death, I am grateful.  May I remember, and carry my sustenance forward in the service of the world."  I try to keep in mind the chain of transmission from starfire to my table, best I can, and if someone cooked for me, I thank them, too.
It's a funny thing, because the deities I look to most personally aren't really directly involved in food--the closest thing I have to a food-related religious affiliation is my veneration of Death and La Santa Muerte, because life has to die in order to feed me, so I am always grateful Death is there so I can live--so while I thank Them for other things, my gratitude for what I eat is much more abstractly directed.  

When I can, I try to honor smaller-scale farmers with what purchases I make and go to farmers' markets for what I can.  But then, I grew up rural, and people who don't know where food comes from confuse me.

The farmgirl I am dating has a house grace that goes, rather more simply, "Some have food.  Some do not.  God bless the revolution."  I have to say, I like that, too.

[EJay]

So just curious, who do you thank? Do you make an effort to support your local farmers?

I thank the plant or animal and bless its life, now that its life becomes part of mine.

I absolutely make an effort to support local farmers.  My whole thought on food is keep it real and keep it local.

[Aiwelin]

As far as prayer or giving thanks, I make sure to thank my god/dess(es) for my food, but I also like to thank the food itself for their sacrifices.  I know a lot of people who will thank the animal that gave its life for their dinner, but I also like to thank the vegetables and plant matter too.  I mean, plants are living things, and just because they don't walk around and make noise and have faces like animals do, that doesn't mean that their sacrifice is any less important.

 
Sitting as I do somewhere between animism and pantheism, I like to do this as well.  I'm an avid gardener, and like to think of composting and watering as 'offerings' to the plant and land spirits.  I say my own personal thank yous while cooking, and the family says a short thanks to all that gave their lives that we might live.