There is a lot of eating in the Bible: bread from heaven, fish on the beach, wine at a wedding. Discover what was on the table, what it means, how Christians fast and feast, and bake a flatbread yourself.
The Bible's pantry
Twelve things that came to the table in Bible times. Pick one and discover how it was made and what it means.
Bread
Everyone's daily food, for farmer and king alike.
Give us today our daily bread.
Matthew 6:11
They ate bread every day. They broke it with their hands and shared it. Jesus said: I am like bread, I give you what you really need.
How they ate it
Bread was the staple food. Every morning women ground grain on a hand mill and baked flat loaves in a clay oven or on a hot stone. Bread was not cut but broken, and those who broke bread together belonged together.
What it means
In the Bible bread stands for everything a person needs to live. Jesus teaches us to pray for bread for today, and says of himself: 'I am the bread of life' (John 6:35). At the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist Christians break bread to remember him.
Jesus spoke in everyday pictures. Three times he used food to say who he is and who we may be.
I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.
John 6:35
The day after the miracle of the loaves, the people come looking for Jesus, for more bread. He points further: he himself is the bread that stills a person's deepest hunger. Christians remember this at the Lord's Supper.
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
Matthew 5:13-14
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls his disciples salt and light. You don't have to be big to make a difference: you taste a pinch of salt in the whole dish, one little lamp lights up the whole house.
A little bit of salt makes everything tastier. In the same way you can make someone else's day better with something small.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in them bears much fruit.
John 15:5
On the evening before his death Jesus compares himself to a vine. A branch lives from the sap that flows through the stem; so believers live from their bond with him. The fruits are love, joy and peace.
A little branch that stays attached to the plant gets grapes. Whoever stays close to Jesus grows and becomes a kind person.
Nine meals, from the night in Egypt to the feast at the end of time. Pick a plate and the story opens.
Pick a plate to open the story.
Fasting
A time of eating less to make more room for God and for others. What the Bible says and how the traditions do it.
Fasting means going without (some) food for a while in order to turn to God. It is in the Bible and belongs to almost every Christian tradition, though the form varies widely. It is not an achievement and not a diet: it is about praying, making room and sharing.
All traditions
Why Christians fast
Jesus fasted forty days in the desert. In the Sermon on the Mount he doesn't say 'if' but 'when you fast': not to be seen, but in secret, for God. The first churches fasted and prayed before important decisions. And the prophet Isaiah says: the fast God wants is sharing your bread with the hungry.
The forty days before Easter (not counting Sundays) begin on Ash Wednesday. Many Christians give something up, such as meat, sweets, alcohol or social media, and give what they save to those in need. In the Catholic Church Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence: for healthy adults aged 18 to 59, one full meal and no meat. Protestants usually fast voluntarily and in their own way.
Orthodox Christians fast most often: almost every Wednesday and Friday, and in four fasting seasons: Great Lent before Easter, the Nativity Fast before Christmas, the fast before the feast of Peter and Paul and the one before the Dormition of Mary. Strictly, you then eat no meat, dairy, eggs, fish, wine or oil. Most believers decide with their priest what they can manage.
Jesus died on a Friday. That is why many Christians have long eaten no meat on Fridays, and fish came to the table: that's how Fish Friday found its way into Europe's kitchens. The Catholic Church still asks for some form of penance on Fridays; in many countries you may choose which, such as a good deed or extra prayer.
At the court of Babylon Daniel and his friends ate only vegetables and drank water; later Daniel ate 'no pleasant food, no meat and no wine' for three weeks. From this grew the 'Daniel fast': a period, often 21 days, of simple plant-based food, prayer and Bible reading. It is a modern custom that draws on these stories; the Bible does not prescribe it.
For centuries Christians have given thanks for their food. Here is a classic prayer from each tradition, and a clapping prayer for children.
Before the meal
Bless us, O Lord
Bless us, O Lord, and these thy giftswhich we are about to receive from thy bounty,through Christ our Lord.Amen.
A very old prayer from the monasteries, prayed all over the world. You often begin and end with the sign of the cross.
Feast food through the year
Christian feasts have their dishes. They are not in the Bible: they are customs that grew up in different countries.
Custom
Epiphany
King cake
When: 6 January
Where: France, Belgium, Spain
You eat a galette des rois or king cake with a bean or a small figure baked inside. Whoever finds it is king or queen for a day and wears the paper crown. In Spain it is a roscón, a ring of brioche.
Epiphany remembers the wise men from the east who came to worship the child Jesus (Matthew 2). The cake is a much later custom.
Whoever finds the bean in their slice of cake may be king for a day, just like the wise men who came to Jesus!
Custom
Shrove Tuesday
Pancakes and doughnuts
When: The day before Ash Wednesday
Where: England, Germany, the Low Countries
Before Lent began, eggs, butter and fat had to be used up. That's how England's Pancake Day with its pancake races, Germany's Krapfen and the rich treats of carnival came about.
Shrove Tuesday is the last evening before Lent. It is a church custom, not a biblical feast.
On the day before Lent you make pancakes: all the eggs and butter have to be used up. Who can toss their pancake the highest?
Custom
Easter
Eggs and Easter bread
When: March or April
Where: Everywhere
Painting eggs, hiding them and hunting for them. Orthodox Christians dye them red and knock them together: 'Christ is risen!' 'He is risen indeed!' Easter bread goes with it: kulich in Russia, Easter stollen in the Low Countries, colomba in Italy.
An egg looks as dead as a stone, yet new life comes out of it: a picture of the empty tomb. Eggs were also not allowed during Lent, so at Easter they were back. This is tradition: the Bible says nothing about eggs at Easter.
An egg looks like a little stone, but a chick comes out of it. In the same way Jesus' tomb was not the end: he is alive!
Custom
Pentecost
No set dish
When: Fifty days after Easter
Where: Here and there
Pentecost has fewer set dishes than Easter or Christmas. In many places an outing into the countryside belongs to it, and in some churches a shared meal after the service.
Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples (Acts 2). Afterwards 'they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts' (Acts 2:46).
At Pentecost the Holy Spirit came. Afterwards the first Christians often ate together, happy and thankful. A picnic with the church fits that nicely!
Custom
St Martin's Day
Martinmas goose
When: 11 November
Where: Germany, Austria, Flanders, the Netherlands
In Germany and Austria people eat goose. Children walk from door to door with lanterns, sing a song and get sweets or fruit.
Martin of Tours (4th century) cut his cloak in half for a beggar when he was a soldier. According to legend he later hid among the geese when people wanted to make him bishop, but their cackling gave him away.
Martin shared his cloak with a poor man who was cold. Children walk with lanterns, and the geese... they gave him away!
Custom
St Nicholas
Speculaas and pepernoten
When: 6 December
Where: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland
Saint Nicholas brings spiced speculaas biscuits, chocolate letters and pepernoten (in the Netherlands on the evening of 5 December). In Germany and Poland you put out a shoe or a boot.
Nicholas was bishop of Myra, in today's Turkey, in the 4th century. According to old stories he helped poor families in secret. Much of it is legend, but giving without the other knowing who it came from fits the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:3-4).
Nicholas was a bishop who secretly gave presents to poor people. That's why you get speculaas without knowing exactly who it's from!
Custom
St Lucy
Lussekatter, saffron buns
When: 13 December
Where: Sweden and Norway
A girl dressed in white with a wreath of candles on her head brings round S-shaped saffron buns in the darkest time of the year, while people sing.
Lucy was a Christian from Syracuse who was martyred around 304. Her name means 'light'; the feast celebrates the light of Christ in the darkness.
In Sweden Lucy brings round yellow buns with little candles on her head. Her name means 'light'.
Custom
Christmas
Stollen, bûche and Wigilia
When: 24 and 25 December
Where: Every country its own table
Stollen in the Low Countries and Germany, a bûche de Noël in France, Christmas pudding in England. In Poland Wigilia begins on Christmas Eve at the first star: twelve meatless dishes, and first everyone breaks an opłatek, a thin blessed wafer, and wishes the other something good.
Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, which means 'house of bread'. The date of 25 December is not in the Bible; the church has celebrated Christmas on that day since the fourth century.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which means 'house of bread'. At Christmas you eat festive bread, and in Poland you first share a thin wafer with everyone.
Cooking like in the Bible
Four simple recipes with what came to the table in Bible times. Choose how much to make, tick off what you have and cook together.
Cook together with an adult. Steps with a knife, the stove or the oven are marked: an adult does them or helps. Mind allergies.
Flatbread from the pan
Flat bread without yeast, baked quickly: that is how the Israelites ate on the night of the exodus, and how Sarah quickly baked 'cakes of bread' for three guests.