Answer
It depends—if the activity is connected to prasadam and devotional service it has a completely different value, because ordinary food distribution cannot be compared to prasadam distribution, so everything must be judged based on its connection to Krishna and who is benefiting; for example, in a holy place like a dham, where devotees or residents connected to the dham are honoring the food, the value becomes very high regardless of technicalities like formal offering, but whether it becomes true devotional service ultimately depends on consciousness—if someone distributes under the instruction of a Vaishnava guru it becomes devotional service, whereas if a pious philanthropist distributes food independently it generates punya (pious merit) but is not pure devotional service, although if Vaishnavas partake of it that connection can elevate it; in ordinary situations, anna-dana mainly gives punya, but this cannot be compared to devotional service, because for a devotee all such punya is only a byproduct—just like in a factory where the main product is primary and everything else is secondary or waste, similarly a devotee’s real goal is love of Krishna and all sadhana is meant for that, while the accumulated punya is incidental, yet that “byproduct” itself is what sustains the material world even though the devotee is only interested in Krishna and bhakti.
