no, you weren't allowed to bring your own food. you get breakfast, lunch and a little fruit and cacao/tea in the evening. people who already attended a course won't even get fruit in the evening..
the food was amazing. there is a group of volunteers who meditate in the core hours of the day (3*1 hour), but spend their time cooking and cleaning in between. it seemed to me that the food they cooked was specifically designed for the course. in the morning yogurt, musli, cooked dry fruits with nuts (most delicious thing ever), and for lunch often veggies with lentils and salad and soy sauce/paste. stuff like that. it felt surpremely healthy, partly because of the spirit with which the food is being cooked I think
the sleeping places are provided as well. where I was, in a rural part of Austria, it was in a conference-facility or something of the kind. there are fixed, official vipassana centres too.
the only problem that I have with this dhamma thing is that the 5 precepts include the abstaining from all intoxicants. I can see why, looking at how some friends use drugs, but weed does seem to have a good influence on myself every now and then. alcohol not so much to put it lightly, I can live well without it. also, is coffee an intoxicant or not? I see nothing wrong with taking a psychedelic every now and then, especially something like ayahuasca.
oh, and another problem, the focus on attaining nirvana. I've had tastes of egoless, absolutely pure states of bliss, being, awareness and whatever, but to make it into a goal to be attained in the future is such a roundabout way of doing things. it is again the same agricultural mindset that does things to reap a benefit in the future. however, I see no problem in using the method and letting the philosophical part of it aside and do my own thing.
