Foods Jesus Ate and How to Grow Them

by Allan A. Swenson

Nationally recognized author and gardener Allan A. Swenson combines his green thumb secrets with his extensive research on Scripture and the Holy Land to produce a delicious work of exegesis. Readers will find their understanding of the Bible and Jesus' life enriched as they discover the foods of Jesus' diet, how he and the Apostles built community through shared meals, and the significance of the many food references in the New Testament. Swenson offers instruction for growing barley, beans, garlic, lentils, wheat, grapes, olives trees, pomegranates, and many other foodstuffs you can cultivate on your own little acre (or fire-escape). Interspersed is history of the Holy Land, nutrition tips, recipes, and scriptural references that tie gardening methods and specific foods to spiritual principles. With beautiful photographs and dozens of useful illustrations, Foods Jesus Ate and How to Grow Them is both an inspiring and practical resource for gardeners of all skill levels.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 2008

Reviews

[Jack Dawes · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Gardner, a practical historian, and a Christian I truly enjoyed this book from each of these perspectives! The author provides the essential dose of each while guiding a historical walk through a biblical garden with enough information to go home a plan start your own. Reading is light and easy and never bogs down, organized and delivered almost like a magazine series or (the gardeners out there will understand) an old style seed catalog, you find yourself looking forward to new each new page. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up at the library a couple of days ago while looking for ideas for a Bethlehem dinner for Christmas (yes, I procrastinated a bit). Consequently, I really just skimmed as I'm more interested in the recipes and a bit about the foods themselves than in actually growing them. Beautiful pictures, yummy recipes, interesting historical info about the foods. Very helpful in selecting appropriate foods for the Bethlehem dinner.

I ended up making two recipes: the Garbanzo Mediterranean Salad - very easy and yummy - and the Fig Pudding - not too sweet, but not my favorite.

For more book reviews, visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Foods Jesus ate, but not necessarily how to prepare them in a way he ate them. Sorry, bacon and shrimp did not play into his diet. This book was mediocre. I think the author was more enthralled than anything, but it did have some info on items we don't see in people growing normally.