Is there any scriptural reference that women should take bath before preparing the food?

Question

In many families, they ask women to take bath before preparing food.

Is there any scriptural reference that women should take bath before preparing the food?

Note: This is regarding morning food and not other meals like dinner.

Answer 1

From Vyasa Smriti's Chapter 2:

A wife should quit her bed before her lord, cleanse (wash) her person, fold up the beds, and make her house clean and tidy. (20)

Then having entered the chamber of Homa (sacrificial fire) she should (first) wash and plaster its floor, and; then the yard of her house, and after that, wash with warm water the vessels of oils, clarified butter, etc., which are used in connection with Agnikaryayas, and keep them in their proper places. (21)

Thus having performed her morning (house-hold) duties, arrd pondered over the dishes of different {flavours (to be prepared, that day), and allotment of

work to different workers, and the daily expenditure of the household, she should make obeisance to her elders and superiors. (24)

Then she should decorate her person with the ornaments given to her by her father-in-law, husband, father, mother, maternal uncle, or relations. (25)

Pure in her thought, speech and action, and obedient to the dictates of her lord, she should follow him (in life) like his own shadow, seek his good like a trusted friend, and minister /to his desires like a servant. 26 27)

Then having finished cooking, she should report of it to her husband saying, " the rice is cooked." The husband having made offerings therewith to the Vishvadevas, she should first feed the children, and ithen serve out the morning meal to her lord. (28)

Now, bathing is a Nitya Karma which is mandatory for everyone. Before eating anything in the morning one must bath first. So, it is obvious that the wife must have bathed once already before she entered the Homa chamber.

From this answer we get some relevant verses regarding the importance of bathing in the morning:

A person who is not bathed but eats food, that food is as bad as excretion,

or,

Perpetual impurity is spoken of for all of them, who,- without bathing, offering oblations to the Fire and making gifts, partake of [their] meals'.

(Daksha Smriti, Chapter 6)

And, thereafter, at some time, she does the cooking. But it is not mentioned in the text that she should bath again before cooking. Now, if it was required then it would have been specifically mentioned.

So, the conclusion is that the one bath she has taken in the morning is enough. No more baths are needed.

Clarification:

My answer is not suggesting that before you eat each time one needs to take bath and that's just absurd and never prescribed in scriptures.

In Hinduism the three acts - attending nature's calls, brushing teeth, bathing (in that order) - are collectively called PrAtakritya.

And, Hindu scriptures prescribe that after waking up from bed one should complete Pratakritya first before consuming anything (food or water).

So, the wife, if she is following Dharmic instructions, must have already taken bath once in the early morning. And, if she had, there is no need for her to bath again before cooking.