Eating in Jerusalem of the First Temple Period

During biblical times it was customary to have a late-morning meal, while the main meal was taken before dark. The most basic food, which constituted the staple of the common people, was bread. Wheat, barley, buckwheat, millet of lentils - these were eaten fresh, toasted over fire, or ground and crushed into flour. Bread was baked on hot stones covered with cinders, fried in a pan, or prepared in a twig-heated oven.

One of the features which set apart the affluent in the ancient world was their frequent consumption of meat. The common people could not afford that luxury, other than at the Passover sacrifice or on rare festive occasions. The description of the supplies for Solomon's kitchen brings the point home: "Solomon's daily provisions consisted of 30 kors of semolina and 60 kors of [ordinary] flour, 10 fatted oxen, 20 pasture-fed oxen, and 100 sheep and goats, besides deer and gazelles, roebucks and fatted geese" (1 Kings 5:2-3). Various types of food are mentioned: hunting meat, meat of domesticated and fatted pasture animals, meat imported from east of the Jordan River (cattle), and Egyptian foods (fatted geese).

The picture also shows a selection of fruits and spices that could be gathered in the fields: hyssop, coriander, mallow leaves, mint, and thyme. Also visible are eggs of wild fowl, butter, and cheeses made of sheep's milk. Some scholars think that sugar cane reached the region in this period. Cooking oil, vinegar, and wine were foods in their own right and were also used as seasoning and toppings.

Proposed recipe: Make your own Labaneh