Food and Food Preparation

Food is what the body needs to live. Preparing food means making it safe and ready to eat.

In Bible times, people ate:

bread,

milk products,

fruit,

meat, and

fish.

Food was also offered as a sacrifice or given as a gift. Having enough food was always a concern. Food was often scarce because droughts happened often (2 Kings 4:38; Jeremiah 14:1, 4–6; Haggai 1:11). Hailstorms destroyed crops (Haggai 2:17). Wars with nearby nations often interrupted farming (2 Kings 6:25). At times, locusts also destroyed crops over large areas.

Food was more plentiful in Palestine than in many other parts of the Near East. The Bible describes it as “a land flowing with milk and honey.”

However, farmers did not dig deeply into the soil. Because of this, crops depended heavily on regular rain. Crops in Egypt were less affected by changes in weather because the Nile River provided a dependable water supply.

Food shortages were seen as warnings or punishment from God (Lamentations 4:9, 11; Amos 4:6–9). These shortages taught the Hebrews that life is more than food. They also taught that faith must continue during scarcity, famine, or even death (Deuteronomy 8:3; Habakkuk 3:17–18).

The nomadic Hebrews, who moved from place to place with their animals, mainly ate milk, curds, and cheese. As the people settled in one place, they began to grow grains and vegetables. They also planted orchards and vineyards.

Sometimes they grew grain for one season. After the harvest, the tribes moved their flocks to other pastures. They also looked for other land where they could grow crops.

Religious sacrifices and festivals were serious times of worship. But they were also times of joy and large meals. People also celebrated victories with banquets. They ate food taken from the camp of the defeated enemy.

Dairy Products

Grain Crops

Animal Products

Insects and Their Food Products

Vegetables and Seasoning

Fruits, Nuts, and Wine

Milk and foods made from milk were an important part of the Hebrew diet (see Judges 4:19). People most often used goat’s milk. They also had milk from camels, cows, and sheep (Genesis 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:14; Proverbs 27:27).

Fresh milk could not be kept for long in Palestine’s hot climate. So people made it into buttermilk, curds, and cheese. They poured milk into goatskins. The milk became sour and thick because the skins had been used before and were not sterile. The milk also thickened as the goatskin moved during travel.

Sometimes the pouch was made from a cow’s stomach. It contained rennin, an enzyme that helps make cheese. The movement of the pouch helped form curds. Curds are first mentioned in the Bible as part of the meal Abraham gave to his special guests (Genesis 18:8).

The Hebrew word for curds (chena) is also translated as “butter” (Job 10:10). This kind of butter was probably like thick yogurt after the water had been removed.

People pressed the curds and rolled them into small balls. In this form, the curds could last for a long time, even in a hot climate. Because of this, pressed curds were especially useful for journeys through dry regions where food was hard to find.

The food mentioned most often in the Bible is bread. The word bread can mean food in general. More often, it means food made from grain. In Bible times, people made bread from several kinds of grain. Wheat, barley, and spelt grew in Egypt (Exodus 9:31–32).

An Egyptian physician named Sinuhe lived in the middle of the 20th century BC. He wrote that people baked bread every day in Palestine and Syria. Bread was probably served with every meal. This bread was probably a flat cake made from barley or a lesser form of wheat because these were the two crops that Sinuhe said he saw.

Wheat was the most costly grain. Fine wheat flour was a luxury that only rich people could afford (Genesis 18:6; Ezra 16:13, 19). In later times, wheat became a valuable crop for trade. It was shipped from Tyre to other ports around the Mediterranean Sea.

Barley could grow in poor soil and needed less rain than other grains. Because of this, it became a common grain crop in the ancient Near East. Barley could also be harvested several weeks before wheat.

Common workers ate barley bread and barley cakes (Judges 7:13; 2 Kings 4:42; Ezekiel 4:12). Jesus also performed a miracle with a young boy’s five barley loaves and two fish. He used them to feed five thousand people (John 6:9–13).

Millet and spelt were also used when food was scarce. Millet is a grain with a small head that grows on a stalk less than 0.6 meters (2 feet) high. Spelt is a type of wheat. Farmers sometimes planted these grains around the edges of fields.

The simplest way to process grain was to rub the heads of grain between the hands. This separated the kernels from the husks. Jesus and his disciples did this (Luke 6:1). Some people believed that doing this on the Sabbath, the day of rest, was the same as harvesting grain. For that reason, they said it was not allowed.

Parching, or lightly roasting grain in a pan, was another simple way to prepare grain (Joshua 5:11; 1 Samuel 17:17). It gave workers and kings a quick, easy meal (Ruth 2:14; 1 Samuel 25:18; 2 Samuel 17:28). Parched grain was also useful for journeys.

Making bread was hard work. In ancient Egypt, around 2900 BC, people used mortars, pestles, and simple mills to grind grain into flour. These mills had an upper stone and a lower stone. People usually placed these simple mills on the ground. A person had to kneel to use them, and the work was very tiring. The flour was coarse and had small pieces of husk in it.

After people prepared the flour, they added water and kneaded the mixture in a special trough. Then they could make the dough into cakes, pancakes, or unleavened bread, which is bread made without yeast (Genesis 19:3). People often baked these flat cakes or thin wafers on hot stones. They also baked them on the inside walls of small cone-shaped ovens or in larger ovens shared by the community.

People added leaven to make the dough lighter. Leaven was usually a piece of dough left from an earlier batch. It had been left to ferment, or change through a natural process that makes dough rise. People also mixed flour with lentil porridge to make the food supply last longer.

The Bible first presents meat as part of the human diet after Noah and his family left the ark (Genesis 9:3). After that time, animals used for food were usually very valuable. Only wealthy people could often afford to kill them for meat.

So, in Bible times, poor farmers usually had a simple diet with little variety. Rich people ate meat, special foods, and goods brought from other places. Meat was a luxury food. Poor people rarely ate it except on special occasions, such as Passover or sacrifices where the worshiper ate part of the offering (Exodus 12:8). It did not make economic sense to kill an animal that provided important foods such as milk, curds, and cheese. However, Near Eastern hospitality expected a host to kill an animal for an honored guest (2 Samuel 12:2–4).

Domestic sheep, goats, and oxen were the main sources of meat. Rich people also enjoyed venison, or meat from deer and similar wild animals.

When Jacob deceived his blind father, Isaac, he served him both young goat meat and wild game (Genesis 27:3, 9, 19). These were luxury foods. An ox kept in a stall or a fattened calf was saved for major celebrations (Matthew 22:4).

Leviticus and Deuteronomy gave clear laws about using meat for sacrifice. The law of Moses did not allow anyone to kill an animal and its young on the same day (Leviticus 22:28). Another law said that a young goat must not be cooked in its mother’s milk (Deuteronomy 14:21). This law may have been given because of Canaanite religious practices.

The law of Moses strongly forbade eating blood in any form. Animal blood was seen as the life of the animal. Priests offered blood to God as a sacrifice to atone for human sin (Leviticus 17:11). The law of Moses also said that pigs, camels, badgers, and rabbits were unclean. This meant the Israelites were not allowed to eat them, mainly for reasons related to health (Leviticus 11:4–8).

In the ancient world, people usually boiled or stewed meat. They roasted an ox or a young goat only for a special feast or sacrifice. Animals might also be roasted for people in the royal palace or for a king’s special guests.

Although many people enjoyed hunting, wild game was only a small part of the diet. The wild animals found in Palestine and named in the Bible include:

gazelle,

roe deer,

wild goat, and

deer (Deuteronomy 14:5; 1 Kings 4:23).

Pheasants were probably available. There were also:

turtledoves,

pigeons,

quails, and

partridges.

But it is not clear how much food these birds provided (Genesis 15:9; Exodus 16:13)

Goose was the most popular dish in Egypt. People also valued marsh ducks as wild game. After the Persian period, people ate chickens (2 Esdras 1:30). Eggs and omelets were popular in Rome during early Christian times. The eggs mentioned in Deuteronomy were probably wild bird eggs (Deuteronomy 22:6–7; compare Isaiah 10:14).

Thirty kinds of fish lived in the Jordan River. In the time of Christ, many people worked in fishing along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

During the Roman period, fish were easy to get from the Mediterranean coast. Before that time, the fish supply depended mostly on which nation controlled the coast.

After the exile, the people of Tyre supplied Jerusalem with fish. These fish were sold near the Fish Gate (Nehemiah 3:3). The law of Moses gave instruction about which fish the Israelites could eat. Only fish with fins and scales were acceptable (Leviticus 11:9–12).

In New Testament times, many food rules no longer applied. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus challenged the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He taught that evil thoughts make a person unclean, not certain foods (Mark 7:19).

As Christianity spread into areas where non-Jewish people lived, some Christians were still concerned about eating meat that had been offered to idols. This became an important issue in Corinth. The apostle Paul taught that this meat was acceptable to eat. But Christians should be careful not to harm another believer whose conscience was more sensitive.

People found wild honey in Palestine, but there is no evidence that they kept bees. Egyptians, however, did keep bees during that time.

The Bible mentions honeycomb in 1 Samuel 14:27 and Song of Solomon 5:1. It mentions liquid honey in 1 Kings 14:3. Honey could be found in cracks in rocks and on trees (Deuteronomy 32:13). It was the main sweetener used in cooking. Honey could not be offered in a sacrifice to the Lord (Leviticus 2:11), but people valued it as a special food. In the 15th century BC, Thutmose III campaigned in Syria and Palestine. He brought back large amounts of honey as tribute, or required payment, from the lands he had conquered.

People probably first ate locusts because they were desperate after locusts had destroyed their crops. Locusts were one of the few insects that the law of Moses allowed as food (Leviticus 11:22). People fried locusts with flour or honey. They also dried them so they would last longer. Locusts and wild honey were the main foods John the Baptist ate in the wilderness (Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6). Locusts have little protein, but they are rich in fat and contain some minerals.

The Hebrew people wandered in the Sinai wilderness. They complained because they missed the flavorful vegetables they had eaten while they were slaves in Egypt. They especially missed:

cucumbers,

melons (possibly watermelons),

leeks,

onions, and

garlic (Numbers 11:5).

Many of these vegetables were later grown in Palestine, especially in Gaza. When people first began to grow cucumbers, they saw them as luxury foods. Guards had to protect them. These guards lived in small shelters that overlooked the gardens (Isaiah 1:8).

Beans, lentils, and parched grain were among the foods brought to David and his soldiers at Mahanaim (2 Samuel 17:28). Lentils were known in Egypt by at least the 13th century BC. The Israelites also used them often, both then and later. Genesis 25:34 mentions lentil soup.

In times of hunger, people could eat the pods of the carob tree. These pods were usually fed to cattle. The prodigal son would have been glad to eat this kind of food (Luke 15:16). Poor people could also eat many kinds of green herbs when food was scarce (Proverbs 15:17). In times of extreme hunger, some kinds of mallow and juniper roots could also be eaten.

In Elisha’s time, a group of prophets at Gilgal made a stew from wild vegetables. By mistake, they added poisonous wild gourds. Elisha corrected the problem by adding flour to the pot (2 Kings 4:38–41).

The Bible does not say exactly which bitter herbs were used with the Passover meal (Exodus 12:8; Numbers 9:11). Mint and cumin were probably included. Dill, cumin, rue, and mint were common garden herbs (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42).

Seasonings helped improve the simple taste of common Israelite food. Salt came mainly from the Dead Sea area. People used it to season food and to keep food from spoiling.

Salt was so important that it became a symbol of moral duty. Sharing salt with someone at a meal confirmed a covenant, or binding agreement (Numbers 18:19). In the sacrifices described in Leviticus, salt was added to meat and grain offerings. It showed that God’s covenant with Israel was firm and lasting (Leviticus 2:13; Ezekiel 43:24).

The mustard plant was probably grown for its oil. It grew from a very small seed to 4.5 meters (15 feet) high (Matthew 13:31–32). Anise, coriander, and cinnamon were also common (Exodus 16:31; Numbers 11:7). The most popular spice, other than salt, was garlic. People probably also used vinegar to flavor food and keep it from spoiling.

Many seeds and plants have been found in Egyptian tombs from the 18th dynasty. This shows that people used seasonings widely in ancient times.

Olive trees grew in large numbers in Palestine. They were an important source of food and oil. Even in poor soil, one olive tree could provide enough olives for a family for a whole year.

Some green olives were preserved in salty water and eaten with bread. But olives were most important as a source of oil. People used olive oil to bake bread and cakes and to fry food. The best olive oil was used in temple sacrifices.

People extracted oil from olives in a simple way. For the best oil, they picked olives before they were fully ripe. Then they crushed them by hand with a stone mortar and pestle.

Usually, workers beat the olive trees with long poles so the olives would fall. Then they gathered the olives in baskets. After that, they pressed out the oil, probably in the same vat used for grapes (Micah 6:15). Grapes were harvested about four weeks later.

Later, people developed an oil mill. Two people turned the heavy upper grinding stone. As the oil flowed out, it was collected in another stone vat. Then the oil was left to settle and become clean. After the oil was refined, people stored it in skins or jars.

Fig trees grew in every part of Palestine. They needed little care and produced two or three crops each year. The second crop was the largest, and it ripened in late summer.

The first figs of the season were seen as a special food (Isaiah 28:4; Micah 7:1). The prophet Hosea said the Israelites were like the first fruit of the fig tree (Hosea 9:10). The prophet Jeremiah also used figs as a picture. He said the people who had gone into exile were like good figs. But the people left behind were like bad figs, fit only for destruction (Jeremiah 24:1–10).

Figs were usually eaten fresh from the trees. Some figs were pressed into cakes for travel (1 Samuel 25:18; 30:12; 1 Chronicles 12:40). Figs were also useful as medicine. People could make poultices from them (2 Kings 20:7; Isaiah 38:21). A poultice is a soft, moist substance placed on the body to help heal it.

Sycamore trees produced small fruit that looked like figs. Poor people mainly ate this fruit. A short time before harvest, people made small cuts in the fruit. This helped it swell and ripen faster. The prophet Amos took care of sycamore fruit trees before God called him to be a prophet (Amos 7:14).

People may also have pressed fruit from the date palm into flat cakes for travel, as they did with figs. However, the Bible does not directly say that people ate dates as food (see Judges 4:5; Psalm 92:12; Joel 1:12; John 12:13).

Another popular fruit in the Near East was the red pomegranate. People ate it whole, or they pressed its seeds to make a refreshing drink. The pomegranate is mentioned in temple ritual as one of the fruits brought back from Canaan to Moses by his spies (Exodus 28:33). Song of Solomon also mentions pomegranate juice as a special drink (Song of Solomon 8:2).

The “apple” mentioned in Scripture was most likely a kind of apricot or quince. It was probably not the apple we know today (Proverbs 25:11; Song of Solomon 2:5).

People also used nuts to add flavor to food. Almonds and pistachios were among the gifts Jacob sent when he tried to ransom his sons, or pay to bring them back (Genesis 43:11).

Grapes were common and plentiful from the early Bronze Age. People ate grapes fresh from the vine. They also dried them as raisins (Numbers 6:3; 1 Samuel 25:18). People pressed grapes for their juice. They drank the juice fresh as new wine, or they let it ferment and become an alcoholic drink. In ancient royal courts, the cupbearer had to provide grape juice or wine for the king, his family, and his guests (Genesis 40:9–13).

Grape juice could also become vinegar when wine went bad. People used vinegar to flavor food and keep food from spoiling. When vinegar was mixed with water, it made a refreshing drink for workers in the fields. People in the Near East also made a thick syrup from grapes. They boiled the grapes until the juice became like molasses. This syrup could be used to sweeten food.

Wine was a common drink in ancient times. People could mix it with water, spices, or honey to make spiced wine (Song of Solomon 8:2; Isaiah 5:22). The Hebrew word for “banquet” or “feast” literally means “drinking.” This shows that drinking was an important part of these events. A festival or banquet was expected to include joy and celebration (Genesis 43:34; Judges 9:13; Luke 5:34).

Making wine was similar in many ways to making olive oil. Workers cut grape clusters from the vine with a sickle. They gathered the grapes in baskets and took them to the winepress.

At the winepress, men and women crushed the grapes with their feet. The juice flowed into a lower vat. In the hot sun, fermentation began almost at once. Fermentation is the natural process that turns grape juice into wine. The wine was left to settle so that pieces of stems and skins sank to the bottom. After that, workers could strain the wine. In about six weeks, the wine was ready to drink or store in clay jars or wineskins.

See also Animals; Bread; Family Life and Relations; Leaven; Meaning of Meals in the Bible; Plants; Unleavened Bread.