What sorts of food were common in the time of Jesus?
Generally speaking, the Israelites of the time of
Christ’s time were frugal eaters. Frankly until
about 100 years ago, frugality in eating was more
imposed than chosen. The food was more scarce
and less convenient than today. It's availability
was seasonable, and all the elements needed to
be made from scratch, including hauling in the
water from wells etc.
Bread was the essential, basic food. So basic
was it that in Hebrew “to eat bread” and “to have
a meal” in the same thing. Bread was treated with
great respect and many rules existed to preserve
that reverence. Any crumbs of over the size of an
olive were expected to be gathered, and never
simply discarded. Bread was never to be cut, but
always broken. The poor ate barley bread, the
rich the bread of wheat. Barley or wheat grains
were ground between two millstones, almost
always by women, and this was done at home.
From this the flower and then the dough was
made and worked in needing troughs. To make
the heavy barley bread rise, women use very
strong millets, and barley yeast. The loaves were
usually made round, such that one spoke of “a
round of bread,” or simply “a round.” Because
bread would become moldy very soon, one would only bake enough for a day or two.
Corn (grain) – Though the Bible mentions corn, it has nothing to do with what we call corn today.
Such a crop was unknown in Middle East. “Corn” in the Bible refers to what we call grain.
Milk - Cows milk was rare, and in any case it was not liked as much as the more common milk of ewe
lambs and of goats. Since milk tended to spoil quickly, cheese making was very common.
Honey was the sweetener that was used for most things. Cane sugar was unknown the Holy Land.
The source of honey was bees, which like today were colonized. Saps from various trees and the
thickened juice of grapes (jelly) were also common sweeteners. So much honey was made in the holy
land, that some of it was exported.
Eggs - As for eggs, very few of them were eaten. The thought of eating eggs was something brought
into the Holy Land only from the outside, especially to the East. It tended to be food only for the very
wealthy. Indeed, the eating of poultry at all seems to have come to Jewish regions only after the exile
in Babylon (587 – 500 BC).
Vegetables - The diet of ordinary people included a
great many vegetables: beans and lentils came first on
the list. Cucumbers as well were very much esteemed.
Onions were very popular.
Meat – There was far less meet consumed than today.
Meat was a food of luxury and only the wealthy it a
great deal of it. Poor people never slaughtered an
animal for their own eating, except when there was a
family feast. Generally when such a feast approached,
an older animal was chosen, and fattened up by
feeding it grain. Therefore such an animal spent its
last months eating well and working little so that its
muscles were softer, and fattier. Goats, and lambs
provided the most common meat; occasionally a calf (i.e. a cow). The animal was usually roasted.
Chickens were scarce, though pigeons and turtledoves were cheap. Game was much sought after,
but generally only the wealthy ate much of it. Deer and gazelle were considered kingly dishes, and
peacock was reckoned a great delicacy.
Fish - But for most common people, fish was more important than meat. Bread and fish was a
common meal. This is illustrated by the miracle of The loaves and the fishes, as well as the meal at
the lakeside in Galilee where Christ prepared fish for them over a charcoal fire. The Sea of Galilee
had great quantities of fish; and fish were also gotten from the Mediterranean Sea. Since fish soon
turned bad, it was often salted. The consumption of fish was so great, that some of it had to be
imported.
Locust - One of the most surprising forms of food was the locust. (But perhaps no stranger than
some of our things today such as frog legs, snails, and live oysters). An ancient Jewish document
claims that there were 800 different kinds of edible locust. Sometimes they were cooked rapidly in salt
water and had a shrimp like taste and color. Usually their head and legs were taken off. Sometimes
they were dried in the sun. After being dried, some were ground down to powder, known as Locust
powder which tasted rather bitter and was often mixed with flour to make a much prized bitter biscuit.
Butter (oil) - Butter was rare in use, olive oil was
much more common. So abundant were olives and
olive oil, that some was exported. Many olives were
eaten directly, others had the oil pressed from them at
an oil press at home (right). Olive oil was highly
prized, and many passages in the Bible hold it up it's
a symbol of strength and health.
Fruit - had an important place in the people's
food. They had many melons and figs along with
pomegranates, blackberries and dates. Here too fruit
was an abundance, so it was often exported as well.
Nuts – Nuts were in some abundance, especially
walnuts, almonds, and pistachios. Like today, they
were roasted.
As for seasonings and other condiments, the ancient Jews seem to like their food strongly
seasoned. Certainly there was salt in abundance from the Dead Sea area, which also helped
preserve certain foods. Other common spices were mustard, capers, cumin, rue, saffron, coriander,
mint, dill, rosemary, garlic, onions, and shallots. Pepper however was scarce and expensive as was
cinnamon, both of which came from the Far East.
Without refrigeration, fish, meat, and some vegetables were preserved by salting, or pickling them.
Pork was absolutely forbidden as was rabbit, and any meet with blood still in it. Meat had to be
carefully drained of all blood, for it was believed that life was in the blood, and life belonged to God.
Drinks - People drank water when it was pure, the Spring water was to be preferred strongly over
well water. Milk, and vinegar diluted with water were also drunk. Juice from pomegranates or dates
was a preferred fruit juice. And a kind of light beer was made from barley and millets.
Wine was a very important staple, it is said
that God himself first showed Noah how it
was made. Vineyards and grapes were in
abundance in ancient Israel. And the
grapes were occasionally eaten directly, but
most of them went toward making wine.
Psalm 103:15 says that wine is joy to man's
heart. The book of Proverbs (31:6-7) also
prescribes that there should be wine for the
afflicted hearts. In Ecclesiastes 31:27 the
author wonders what kind of life one could
lead without it. Indeed, the vine was a
symbol for Israel in the Scriptures. Since
wine was considered sacred, it had to be
kosher, that is made only by Jewish hands.
It was only red wine that was consumed in
biblical times; there is not even one
mention of white wine. Wine was always
spoken of as having the color of blood, and
thus it was a deep red or purple color. They
kept wine either in tall jars, or in wineskins made out of goats hide with wooden stoppers. Wine was
filtered before it was consumed. Like today, there were different qualities of wine, some drier, some
sweeter, some considered inferior some more desirable. They drink wine out of metal goblets or
earthenware mugs, and although glass was known, it was scarce and expensive
Wine in moderation was considered a great blessing, but the ancient Jews were also well aware
that excessive wine could be dangerous. Scripture is full of warnings about drunkenness.
Nevertheless, wine was often had in some abundance, because water is not often pure. When Paul
tells Timothy to drink some wine to settle his stomach, he was alluding to the fact that water alone
tended to cause the stomach to be sore and inflamed, and to bring either diarrhea or constipation.
Wine had the medicinal effect and helping kill water-born bacteria (of which the ancients knew
nothing) as well as cheering the heart.
Food of course was very seasonal in availability. And thus the diet would be affected by harvest
cycles. Here is a rough estimate of the harvests of different things:
Mid September – Ploughing time
Mid Oct – November – Olive harvest
Mid November – Grain is planted. Rainy season begins
February Flax harvest
Late March, Barley harvest
May – Wheat harvest
Mid June – Figs
July, - Grapes and vintage.
August - Dates and late figs
!
