No references to food in my Bible readings recently, so I'll post a report on our experience joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group for this growing season. For about $400 we signed up to get a "share" of a local farm's produce from mid-May through mid-October. This means every Wednesday I have gone to a garage in Champaign and picked up my portion. Spread over the four months, here's what we got: salad greens, radishes, broccoli, green onions, basil, radicchio, daikon (radish that looks like a parsnip), Italian parsley, kale, turnip greens, summer squash, zucchini, kohlrabi, beets with their greens, fennel, slicing onions, napa cabbage, red cabbage, green cabbage, green beans, zephyr squash (half yellow, half green), patty pan squash (pale, round with scalloped edge), cubanelle peppers (the long, mild ones), sweet peppers, cauliflower, eggplant, red lettuce, Romaine lettuce, sweet corn, hot chiles, pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, savoy cabbage (super crinkly), cantaloupe, onions, roma and cherry tomatoes, acorn squash, butternut squash, kuri squash, Japanese red cooking radishes, and purple beans.
Some of the weeks, especially in the beginning, were sparse due to the wet spring; other weeks had quite a bit. One good thing about this is that the selection forced me to try some vegetables I had been unfamiliar with before. It was interesting to arrive each Wednesday not knowing what I would receive. A not-so-good aspect is that there was far more zucchini, cabbage, and cucumbers than sweet corn, tomatoes, or fennel. Ah well.
All of these are good food that God grew in natural provision for us.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Breakfast in China
We were fortunate to be able to visit China and are just adjusting to return. We enjoyed some fabulous meals there. It's interesting to see the difference from western tastes. Consider breakfast. At home, Americans love their cereal and milk. We did not see this on either of our excursions to China as cold food is not considered a good start to the day. Of course we were mainly having breakfast at hotel buffets, not in homes. Thin, hot rice porridge, congee, served with some minced pork or pickled vegetables, is common. Steamed buns. Cellophane or other noodles. Various preparations of tofu. Fish. Thousand-year eggs. Warm fresh soy milk (yummy!). No dairy except yogurt. Sweet potato. Cabbage. Fruit. These things are commonly seen on a breakfast buffet.
I love some parts of this meal like the just-made soy milk and the sweet potato (or squash). But all the wheat and rice products I saw were processed white--bread, rolls, dumpling and spring roll wrappers, noodles. The first missed item I wanted when I got back home last time was Raisin Bran (labeled Raisin Barn in the one hotel that had it). This time it was just a piece of whole wheat toast.
I love some parts of this meal like the just-made soy milk and the sweet potato (or squash). But all the wheat and rice products I saw were processed white--bread, rolls, dumpling and spring roll wrappers, noodles. The first missed item I wanted when I got back home last time was Raisin Bran (labeled Raisin Barn in the one hotel that had it). This time it was just a piece of whole wheat toast.
Grinding
~Luke 17.35 Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
It's a stretch, but I'm inclined to make an argument for whole grain here--women grinding the wheat (or maybe some other grain) for the day's flour for the daily bread. These moms aren't picking up a loaf of Wonder Bread at the local market. Surely it's like Great Harvest, ground fresh daily with none of the nutrient-dense parts thrown out to make a lighter, whiter product.
It's a stretch, but I'm inclined to make an argument for whole grain here--women grinding the wheat (or maybe some other grain) for the day's flour for the daily bread. These moms aren't picking up a loaf of Wonder Bread at the local market. Surely it's like Great Harvest, ground fresh daily with none of the nutrient-dense parts thrown out to make a lighter, whiter product.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Blog Break
I'm taking the next two weeks off from my already intermittent Bible food blogging. Back in early October!
It's normal to eat, so don't feel bad about that. :-]
Luke 17.26-29
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
Here is another food analogy in a Jesus parable. This time he just uses eating and drinking to show a normal part of human life before a major God intervention.
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
Here is another food analogy in a Jesus parable. This time he just uses eating and drinking to show a normal part of human life before a major God intervention.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wait. Who is serving whom?
~Luke 12.35-38 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.
~Luke 17.7-10 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Clearly mealtime is among Jesus' favorite metaphors for his Kingdom. In these two passages he makes an unlikely, maybe even unthinkable, picture of a master serving dinner to his servants. This weird change of circumstance would have caught the attention of hearers, both masters and slaves. He uses the incongruity to make two different points: 1) be ready at all times for the master's return, and 2) humbly do your duty without expecting commendation for it.
PS I admire Ben Hoerr for taking Luke 17.10 as a key verse in his life and his recent dramatic and unexpected change in circumstance.
~Luke 17.7-10 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Clearly mealtime is among Jesus' favorite metaphors for his Kingdom. In these two passages he makes an unlikely, maybe even unthinkable, picture of a master serving dinner to his servants. This weird change of circumstance would have caught the attention of hearers, both masters and slaves. He uses the incongruity to make two different points: 1) be ready at all times for the master's return, and 2) humbly do your duty without expecting commendation for it.
PS I admire Ben Hoerr for taking Luke 17.10 as a key verse in his life and his recent dramatic and unexpected change in circumstance.
Friday, September 2, 2011
More than we need
~Luke 16.19-24 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’"
An interesting point here is how abundant and varied is our food supply far more so than we would need to live. The rich man here is eating luxury items and tasty delights, but even his scraps could possibly have saved poor Lazarus. I see the fact that God has given us far more than just bread and water as testimony of his delight in providing a rich environment for us. Watermelon, sweet corn, fennel, cheese, beef, and wine are just a few of his goodies. And water.
Water is absolutely necessary for physical life and fills other functions like comfort, relief, and even fun.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’"
An interesting point here is how abundant and varied is our food supply far more so than we would need to live. The rich man here is eating luxury items and tasty delights, but even his scraps could possibly have saved poor Lazarus. I see the fact that God has given us far more than just bread and water as testimony of his delight in providing a rich environment for us. Watermelon, sweet corn, fennel, cheese, beef, and wine are just a few of his goodies. And water.
Water is absolutely necessary for physical life and fills other functions like comfort, relief, and even fun.
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