Olives, milk, honey, pomegranates, apricots, leeks, cucumbers, wheat, and figs form the building blocks for an uncomplicated yet timeless cuisine. The foods that ancient peoples ate were simple, she tells us consequently, the recipes in ABiblical Feast are as well. Similarly, a recipe for Leek Dip follows a passage from Numbers 11:5: "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely: the cucumbers, and the lemons, and the leeks, and the onion and the garlic." Morse then embarks on a short discussion of leeks, linking them to historical foodways. A recipe for fresh fava beans with olive oil and garlic, for instance, is prefaced by a short paragraph which tells us about the archeological evidence for favas in charred cooking remains from 4,500 years ago.
Morse then provides a knowledgeable introduction which adds to our understanding of ancient food traditions. Each entry begins with a passage from the Bible that acts as a reference point for the dish being showcased. A Biblical Feast: Foods From the Holy Land features recipes that Morse has collected from the Near East-Mediterranean region presented in a context that allows readers to appreciate each dish's place in Biblical history. In a new cookbook, author Kitty Morse finds inspiration in the very foods that formed the cornerstone of these enduring spiritual traditions. Indeed, the Bible of Judeo-Christian religions overflows with episodes involving feasts, fasting, and famine because the ancients recognized the importance of food not only as nourishment, but also as part of the process leading to true spirituality. In the same spirit, on the most sacred of all Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur, spiritual atonement comes through denial of the food which our mortal bodies need to maintain life. For Jews, no holiday galvanizes the community like Passover, which commemorates the deliverance from slavery in Egypt with a feast. For many branches of Christianity, redemption is achieved through eating the bread that symbolizes the body of Christ.
But just as one bite causes the expulsion from Eden, so too does another lead to salvation. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the fall from grace begins with a single event: Adam and Eve eat from the Tree of Knowledge and thus become aware of their own bodies and their own awkward, embarrassed mortality. It is at once the root of human misery and the cup of human salvation.
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