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'What would Jesus eat?' Church class seeks answers

Jul. 28, 2005

NOTE: Photographs are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Cathy Farmer*

Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a mess of lentil stew. You can
find the story right there in the Bible, Genesis 25:29-34. For an eldest
son like Esau to sell his birthright meant he was giving up the
leadership of the family and a double share of the inheritance.

So what the heck is lentil stew?

"Lentil stew or pottage is made by cooking lentils to mush," explained
John Williams Jr., a self-described "avid cook" and Sunday school
teacher at Broadway United Methodist Church in Paducah, Ky. Williams is
teaching a series of classes he calls, "What Would Jesus Eat?"

"I've been collecting books on the topic for almost 10 years," Williams
said, "and I've been trying out recipes using only the food common in
the biblical world. It seemed to me that other people might be
interested as well, so I offered this series."

Back to the lentil stew. According to Williams, nomads like Jacob and
Esau, who lived in tents and cooked over fires, needed to prepare food
that would last. No refrigerators, you understand. No tables, either.
They tended to sit around on rugs and eat with their hands or by
scooping the food with bread.

"Often, the meal was cooked days or even weeks in advance," Williams
explained. "It was served 'room' temperature. And it wasn't uncommon to
have a big bowl in the middle of the tent from which everyone would dip
by hand."

He picked up a pottery bowl filled with pottage and offered it for
sampling. Most of the class approached the brownish mush - which looked
rather like lumpy refried beans - gingerly.

"Hmmm," was the general consensus of the 20 or so students. "Not bad,
but nothing to give away your birthright for!"

Of course, in his defense, Esau was famished. According to the account
in the Bible, the oldest twin had been out in the field working or
hunting while Jacob, his mama's favorite, was hanging around the tent,
cooking up beans and onions.

To the average American, lentil stew might not look all that enticing.
But to a nomadic shepherd?

Williams provided a list of the foodstuffs that would have been
available in the ancient Holy Land. But he cautioned the class to
remember that everything was seasonal - there was no year-round food
supply. Nor was the peasant family able to afford many items on the
list.

"Their diet was rather bland," he said. "And storage was a problem. They
used large clay jars for some things."

"Would you call that biblical Tupperware?" called one woman.

Vegetables were especially limited from the perspective of a person who
can drive to the local supermarket and pick up nearly anything grown
anywhere on the globe.

Anise, artichokes, beans, cucumbers, fennel, leeks, lentils, mustard
greens, onions and sorrel rounded out the list of vegetables.

Fruits included apricots, dates, figs, grapes, mulberries, muskmelon,
olives, pomegranates, quinces and raisins.

Meat, usually the main dish in an American meal, was expensive, and it
was typically "stretched" with something like barley by nomads like Esau
and Jacob.

"It was sort of the 'hamburger-helper' of its time," said Kristin
Williams, John's wife.

Lamb, beef, fish (both fresh and dried), chicken, pigeons (squab), goat
and quail were the meats available.

Herbs and spices included caraway, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, mustard,
saffron, bay leaves, capers, coriander, dill, garlic, hyssop, parsley,
sage and thyme.

In Psalms, David mentions being "purged with hyssop," which the class
discovered to be rather bitter tasting.

Milk and milk products such as butter and yogurt were important.
Williams offered several dishes that featured yogurt - cucumbers and
yogurt salad and hummus with yogurt and dill. (Hummus is a mixture of
chickpeas, tahini and garlic. Tahini is ground sesame seeds.)

Since there was no sugar, desserts would have been few and far between,
and possibly included honey and various fruits, such as dates and
grapes.

"I consider the food mentioned in the Bible the fingerprints of the
people," Williams said as he described the various dishes he had
prepared for the class. "These would have been included in a feast for
events such as marriages, Passover, family gatherings (think of the
dinner prepared for the prodigal son) and ritual special occasions.

"The first course is grape leaves stuffed with lamb and wheat, plain
yogurt and a shredded cucumber salad made with yogurt and fresh herbs.
You'll notice there aren't a lot of vegetables.

"At the Last Supper," he continued, "which was a Passover Feast, what
did Jesus eat? Bread and wine. Jesus wasn't a man with money, and he
tended to eat with the marginalized, such as prostitutes and tax
collectors.

"Does anyone know when the early church met?" he asked. "Sunday evening.
And Communion would end the service."

With a wave of his hand, Williams urged the class to try the rest of the
dishes spread over two tables and a counter top.

In addition to the "lentil stew," there were cucumbers fried with
hyssop, onions and leeks sauteed with almonds and parsley, lamb
stretched with barley, hummus, pita chips (unleavened and toasted
bread), quince, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, water, grape juice
(instead of wine) and olives.

"Pretty good," was the final decision. "Pretty good."

*Farmer is director of communications for the Memphis Annual (regional)
Conference of the United Methodist Church.

News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

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