Food and Food Production

Food and food production form the settings for a plethora of Old and New Testament texts as well as the metaphorical material used by texts for a variety of purposes. The basic “Mediterranean diet” of olive oil, grains, and grapes and their production are the everyday staples, often supplemented by festive meals. Meals display important theological, anthropological, and political events, highlighting both the materiality of the biblical discourses and the use of material images for broader arguments. Uses of food in the Hebrew Bible are deeply influenced by the political and religious traditions of the ancient Near East, such as Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Ugarit. New Testament texts interact with both the Greco-Roman and earlier Israelite traditions.