i would like to know the reason why Daniel and his friends ate vegetables and drank water?

Question

When the time came for them to meet the king, they were able to answer all questions put to them and the king realise they were ten times more intelligent and wiser than any of his seers

Answer 1

Daniel and his friends (best known to us by their Persian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) were Jewish captives. Their religion forbade them to eat certain foods that were common in Persia, so, rather than violate their consciences, they asked that they be given vegetarian meals and water rather than wine. The young men thrived on this diet.

They also apparently studied hard--I would imagine that, knowing that they were doing right by not eating the foods that were forbidden to Jews, they could apply themselves to schoolwork--if you don't have a guilty conscience, it's much easier to concentrate on other things.

Answer 2

The only answer the text of Daniel gives is,

"Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way." (Daniel 1:8)

There is no mention of the food violating the Jewish dietary laws, esp. with such general terms as "food" and "wine". Perhaps the idea that the food was not "kosher" is meant to be implied in the verb "defile (himself)", that is, "make himself unclean".

But there are other possibilities. I believe the most likely is the concern that the food may have been dedicated to idols, so that taking part of it was in a sense to partake in a feast in honor of (WORSHIPING!) idols.

The evidence for this in the book itself is that the issue of avoiding IDOLATRY is certainly an important one in this book, and is especially important in the "test" stories --where these Hebrew leaders demonstrate their faithfulness to their God. Compare the similar "test" of Daniel's three friends (to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's image in chapter 3, as well as the test of Daniel in chapter 6 (PRAY only to the king or be thrown to the lions). Consider also the description of the royal feast of Belshazzar, where they drank wine (from vessels taken from the Jerusalem temple) while praising their own gods.

By the way, the underlying significance of either the "kosher" or "devoted to pagan deities" explanation may be very similar. The kosher laws themselves were a way in which the Jews were meant to visibly, symbolically separate themselves from the "unclean" pagan practices of those around them.