Epics of ancient India rank with the timeless myths of classical Greece and Rome in the power of their language and the underlying moral lessons. The Ramayana and Mahabharata, both originally written in Sanskrit, contain vibrant stories of kings and princes, sages and tricksters, demons and gods, damsels in distress, and mighty heroes. Ganesha Goes to Lunch collects some of the most vivid stories from these and other early Indian folklore and spiritual texts including the Vedas and the Puranas.

These stories feature the gods of India in their celestial and earthly abodes, hapless humans struggling with life's many problems, and gods and humans interacting. Assembled by Kamla Kapur, these stories illustrate the great spiritual and practical themes of the human condition. Kamla Kapur brings her poet's eye and ear to the retelling of these stories, recreating and dramatizing them to illuminate their relevance to modern times.