FOOD AND FOOD PREPARATION OVERVIEW Food is anything people eat-meats, grains, vegetables, and so on-to keep themselves alive. The preparation of food is whatever people do to food to get it ready for eating. In the case of the Hebrews, food was also sometimes prepared to be given to God as a part of the nation’s offerings and sacrifices or to be given to another person as a gift. Food was more plentiful in Palestine (often described in the Bible as a land flowing with milk and honey) than in many other parts of the Near East. Shallow plowing of the soil, however, meant that the success of crops depended heavily on regular rainfall. The success of Egyptian crops depended less on the weather, because the Nile River provided a regular source of water. Thus, in Israel people were always concerned that there would be enough food. Sometimes droughts would threaten crops and livestock (Jeremiah 14:1-6), and sometimes hailstorms would destroy the crops in the field (Haggai 2:17). Sometimes war would interrupt farming (2 Kings 6:25), and sometimes locusts would sweep into an area in large numbers and eat up all the plants (Joel 1:1). When food was in short supply, people would often consider it a warning or punishment from God (Amos 4:6-9). They took it as a reminder that life is more than food and that faith must continue despite low food supplies, famine, or even death (Habakkuk 3:17-18). The Hebrews’ relationship with food changed somewhat as their way of life changed. In the early years, when the Hebrews were nomads moving across the land, their staple foods were the milk, curds, and cheese they got from their herds. As the people settled in one place, they grew grains and vegetables and planted orchards and vineyards. But even then, some people would choose to move with their flocks to other pastures after gathering in a harvest. Other aspects of the Hebrews’ relationship with food did not change. For example, throughout their history they would enjoy eating together as a part of their religious feasts and festivals. They would also celebrate a victory in war by feasting on food collected from the camp of their defeated enemy. Something else that did not change was the range of food that could be produced in that part of the world. The people of the Bible enjoyed the dairy products, grains, vegetables, and other foods native to Palestine. DAIRY Milk and its by-products formed a vital part of the Hebrew diet (Judges 4:19). Most often, the Hebrews used goat’s milk, although milk from camels, cows, and sheep was also available (Genesis 32:15; Deuteronomy 32:14; Proverbs 27:27). Since fresh milk could not be preserved in Palestine’s hot climate, it was processed into buttermilk, curds, and cheese. Milk was poured into a pouch, where it soured and thickened because of the nonsterile condition of the pouch, which had been used before. During transport, the movement of the pouch-often made from a cow’s stomach, containing the enzyme rennin used to make cheese-produced curds. Curds are first mentioned in the Bible as part of the meal that Abraham provided for his angelic guests (Genesis 18:8). The Hebrew word for curds is also translated butter (Job 10:10). This butter was similar in consistency to yogurt from which the water has been squeezed. When pressed and rolled into small balls, it kept a long time, despite the climate. Thus, compressed curds were particularly valuable for journeys in dry regions where food was scarce. GRAIN The food most frequently mentioned in the Bible is bread. The term bread refers in a general sense to all foods but more particularly to food prepared from grain. In biblical times bread was prepared from several grains, including wheat, barley, and spelt (Exodus 9:31-32). An Egyptian physician named Sinuhe, living in the mid-twentieth century BC, recorded that bread was baked daily in Palestine and Syria. Most likely, bread was served with every meal in Palestine. This bread was probably a wafer or flat cake made from barley or emmer (an inferior form of wheat), since these were the two grain crops that Sinuhe mentioned seeing. Wheat was the most expensive grain in that part of the world. Fine wheat flour was a luxury only the rich could afford (Ezekiel 16:13, 19). In later periods wheat became a valuable export crop that was shipped from Tyre to other ports around the Mediterranean Sea. Because barley could grow in less productive soil and was more tolerant of drought conditions, it became a popular grain crop in the ancient Near East. Barley could also be harvested several weeks earlier than wheat. Barley bread and barley cakes were eaten by the typical laborer (2 Kings 4:42). Jesus miraculously multiplied a young boy’s five barley loaves and two fishes and then fed 5,000 people with them (John 6:9-13). Millet-a cereal with a small grain head growing on a stalk less than 2 feet (.6 meter) high-was used in times of need as a border around the edges of fields. The same was true for a type of wheat called spelt. The most primitive way of processing grain was to rub the ears between the hands to separate the kernels, as Jesus and his disciples did (Luke 6:1). To perform this act on the Sabbath (the day of rest) was considered the equivalent of reaping and was therefore forbidden by the rabbis. Parching (roasting the grain lightly in a pan) was another simple method of preparation (1 Samuel 17:17). It created a quick and easy meal for laborers and even for kings (Ruth 2:14; 2 Samuel 17:28). Parched corn was ideal for taking on journeys. Bread making was hard work. Mortars and pestles (bowls with pounding sticks), and simple mills with upper and lower stones, were used for grinding flour in ancient Egypt at least as early as 2900 BC Such primitive mills were normally placed on the ground, and one had to kneel in order to do the backbreaking work. The resulting meal was coarse and filled with small pieces of husk. When the flour had been prepared, bread makers added water and kneaded the mixture in a special trough. They could then make the dough into cakes, pancakes, or unleavened bread (Genesis 19:3). They would often bake these flat cakes on previously heated stones, on the inner walls of small, cone-shaped ovens, or in larger ovens used by more than one family. They added leaven to make a lighter dough. The leaven was normally a piece of dough left over from an earlier mixing and allowed to ferment before being used. Bread makers would also sometimes mix a porridge of lentil beans into the flour meal in order to stretch the food supply. 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Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:31:52 +0000
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