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Vikram Doctor, TNN Aug 27, 2006, 03.26am IST  The Ganesh
festival starts this Sunday and in terms of food that means one
thing: modaks or sweet dumplings. Ganesha's fat belly might seem
to indicate his delight in good food, but in reality there isn't
much ritual food associated with the festival. Perhaps it's
because of the timing — at the end of the monsoons when crops
have been sown and are in their first growth, but are far from
bearing fruit.  This is why fresh green shoots and leaves
feature in the traditional offerings, but you don't have more
elaborate dishes — these are sensibly reserved for the harvest
festivals of later months. These days, with everything available
around the year, there's no limit on what we can offer, so
Ganesha gets all the fruits and sweets routinely served up to
all the gods.  But it's an indication of earlier times that only
few are really linked to him. Such as the wood-apple, the round
fruit of the bael tree, aegle