bible food?

Question

Does anyone have any knowledge about the foods people ate back then, or any meal habits, etc.?

Answer 1

When Jesus was a guest at a meal, He referred to the two main meals of the day: “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind” (Luke 14:12-13 HCSB). There were only two main meals for the Jewish family. Breakfast was taken informally soon after getting up and normally consisted of a flat bread cake and a piece of cheese, dried fruit, or olives. Sometimes the bread was wrapped around the appetizer, and sometimes the bread was split open to make a bag where the morsels might be placed. To eat bread for a meal in such a way was so natural and normal that “eating bread” came to have the same meaning as “having a meal.” “Give us today our daily bread” is a request that God will meet our need for daily food (Matt. 6:11 HCSB). It was quite usual for the men and boys to leave the house for their work, eating their breakfast as they went, while mother, daughters, and the younger children were kept at home. There was no midday meal as such, although a rest may have been taken for a drink and a piece of fruit. When Ruth stopped with the reapers, she ate parched grain moistened with wine (Ruth 2:14 NRSV).

While the men in the family were at work, the women and children would, among their daily activities, prepare for the evening meal. Water for cooking was collected by the older girls who drew it from the well or spring at the beginning of the day before it began to get hot, and the goats were milked too. Water collection was quite a serious business as well water could be polluted by animal usage, and house runoff from mud roofs was not normally safe to drink. Water collected, the girls then went to the market to purchase food for the meal. Fresh vegetables were bought from traders who sat with their produce around them on the ground of the market place, and if needed, olive oil and seasoning. Some families collected bread from the village baker, who owned a communal oven, returning the bread that each family had left as dough the night before (Hos. 7:4-6). Other families baked their own bread upon returning home. The house had in the meantime been cleaned (Luke 11:25) and the washing done. Grain had been crushed in the handmill, and the fire fanned so that it was hot enough for baking bread. After the midday rest, the evening meal was prepared on the fire; a vegetable or lentil stew was made in the large cooking pot, herbs and salt being used to add to the flavor. Only on special occasions such as a sacrifice or festival day was any meat added to the stew, and only on very rare occasions was the meat roasted or game or fish eaten. When the time came for the meal, the pot was placed on a rug on the floor as the whole family sat around it. A blessing or thanksgiving was made, and each member of the family used a piece of bread as a scoop to take up some of the contents of the pot because there was no cutlery. (Communal dipping into the pot made it essential that hands were washed before the meal.) Later in history a table and benches sometimes replaced the rug on the ground (1 Kings 13:20), but the communal pot was still at the center. At the close of the meal, fruit would be eaten and the wine would be drunk.

Formal meals were always preceded by an invitation. The host then insisted that people come until the invitations were accepted (Luke 14:16-24). When the guests arrived, their feet were washed by the most humble slaves, and their sandals were removed (John 13:3-11). This was to protect the carpeted floors from dirt as well as to make it more comfortable to sit on one’s heels. Their heads were anointed with olive oil scented with spices. The oil was rubbed into the hair (Luke 7:36-50). Drinking water was then provided. In large houses the special guest moved to the “top table” in a room with a raised floor and would sit on the right-hand side of the host. The second guest would sit on the host’s left-hand side (Luke 14:7-11; 20:46).

One did not so much “sit” at table as recline at table. Couches were drawn up to the tables, head towards the table, and cushions provided so that guests could rest on their left arm and use the right to serve themselves from the table. Using this arrangement it was possible for the servants to continue to wash the feet (Luke 7:46), but to make conversation persons had to turn almost on their backs and literally be “on the bosom” of the person to the left (John 13:23-25). In the time of Jesus, the triclinium or couch arranged around three sides of a table, was the height of fashion. Servants used the open side so that they had access to the tables to bring in or to take away dishes of food.

The meal started with a drink of wine diluted with honey. The main dinner that followed was of three courses, beautifully arranged on trays. There were no forks, so guests ate with their fingers except when soup, eggs, or shellfish were served. Then spoons were used. Finally there was a dessert of pastry and fruit. During the meal the host provided entertainment of music, dancing (individual, expressive dances), and readings from poetry and other literature. Such an occasion was an important local event, and people of humbler means were able to look in from the darkness outside (Luke 7:37). When the meal was completed, there was a long period devoted to talking. Stories were related, and gossip was shared. Such festivities were always the envy of poorer people who tried to copy them in their own way.

Whether such meals were formal or informal, abundant or scant, there were always food laws that had to be observed. Only animals which chewed the cud and had divided hoofs, fish which had fins and scales, and birds which did not eat carrion could be eaten (Lev. 11:1-22).

Answer 2

Leviticus chapter 11 lists the dietary restrictions God gave to the nation of Israel. The dietary rules were never intended to apply to anyone other than Israel. Jesus later declares all foods clean (Mark 7:19). God gave the apostle Peter a vision in which He declares concerning formerly unclean animals, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15). When Jesus died on the cross, He put an end to the Old Testament law (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:24-26; Ephesians 2:15). This includes the laws regarding clean and unclean foods.

Answer 3

During Biblical times people grow grains,beans, fruit and vegetables. They did it independently or as a collective. Meat was a considered a delicacy. You had to own an animal or catch something. When there was devastation from insects, floods or disease, people foraged for food. Anything that could be chewed and swallowed was considered food. Any leaf, grass or tree bark was consumed. These primitive people didn't know that certain plants, mushrooms, etc. can contain hallucinogens. When someone saw a staff turn into a snake, we are now allowed to ask, "What did they eat before this happened?" When foraged food was depleted, a person would pick up a handful of dirt and swallow it in order to fill their stomachs. Religious movies always show a cleansed version of what it was like during biblical times. The main fuel for cooking was cow dung.

Answer 4

If you are trying to look at a meal plan or something, there is a book called, "The Maker's Diet." It is a book that shows what all types of foods that they ate and the ones that they were not supposed to eat. It is pretty interesting because it also gives the reasons why they were not supposed to eat them.

Sorry I couldn't give you a list but it would take a while.

Answer 5

What are the food laws? The food laws stated in Leviticus simply state that We should not eat those things that God put on this earth to clean it up. Those thing that eat carrion those fish that are bottom feeders because they eat the excrement of all aquatic life. Mammals such as rodents , canines, bears, crows, vultures ,etc,etc. God is the great designer , He knows better than we do what is and is not good for us. Some say the dietary laws are done away with in the new testament . It is a flat out lie. Upon careful reading of their supportive scripture you will find it says "that which I created to be consumed". thanks.

Answer 6

The simple foods of biblical times consisted of fruits and vegetables, nuts and beans, grains, fish, meat, fiber, and lots of olives and olive oil. In Deuteronomy 8:7-8, on their way to the promised land the Hebrews saw “a land of brooks and water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth and valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of wines and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey.”


Some of the plants which were eaten included garlic, bitter herbs for salad, leeks, lentils, English walnuts (originally Persian walnuts), pistachio nuts, olives, and pomegranates. The grains available besides bread wheat included barley and rye. Barley was the “poor man’s” grain, being leaner in carbohydrates, fats, and protein, but it also was a very hearty plant and the most common grain cereal and had seven “ears” for each stalk. These could be roasted or ground, and when cooked yielded the highest level of nutrients.

Answer 7

Well, I know they had fish, flat bread, salad like plants and sometimes meat.
They also had lots of wine and lots of water.
They ate pretty much like us, in a social gathering, but the lower class people usually ate on the floor of their "living room" they would lie down and eat at the same time.
They also shared meals outside in public places.

Answer 8

Beasts, fowl ,bread from all grains, mead, fruit, Bullock, lambs, honey, fish , lots of fish, birds and olives and olive oil , plants-
-Every day was pizza day cause they would throw everything on top of a flat bread but roll it up !

They ate with their fingers drank out of pots and cups made of clay and some blown glass (Syria)
the poor and widows were helped with flat loaves of bread and clothing (every thing was shared daily ) common food was dried peas , lentils, or beans , dried figs as well.

The cooking or recipes were eclectic since they were at a crossroads of Asia Africa and Europe
The lords day (different from arabs or Jews)meant very little cooking . But lots of visiting and praising the Lord

Philosophers were expelled from the all of Rome but never the cooks or chefs ! !

Monks had a different diet from rabbis and different from the Samaritans each unto their own

Jon
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Answer 9

You need to read Jordan Rubin's book, The Maker's Diet. While I personally don't subscribe to this diet completely, he outlines the food of the old testament quite well.

http://www.makersdiet.com/publicsite/funnel/index.aspx?promo=ED716AA7-6C2D-43CE-90B9-AFAC33BB897E&np=1

But here are some foods that I know would be eaten: lamb, dairy products made of goat's milk, vegetables, fish, wine, olive oil, chicken.

Answer 10

fish, bread, wine, water, lambs,cattle, etc. A good book on Manners and Customs of Bible Lands would be a good source.. You can find one at almost any Bible Book Store.