The Most Messed Up Things People Ate In The Bible

Life before Gordon Ramsay must have been incredibly tough. How anyone managed to survive without the constantly shouting and swearing chef interfering with their meal preparations is a complete mystery. Perhaps before the invention of television there were simply more of them. Maybe every village had a screaming Scotsman to make locals cry into their finely crafted broths.

Of course, cooking techniques have advanced somewhat since the days of boiling crows in a cauldron and heating up a suspiciously green and bubbly brew to ward off witches. But tough culinary measures similar to those dished out by Ramsay have been around for thousands of years, as research into the Bible has found.

According to a paper posted at Harvard Law School, the Bible enforces several restrictions regarding food usage, such as bans on eating fat, a prohibition against slaughtering pigs, and a rule to not eat fruit from a tree until the tree is five years old. With so many precise obligations to follow, perhaps it is unsurprising that the Bible records many shocking foods.

Learn Religions reports a huge range of foodstuffs that were popular in the Bible, including fish, grapes, and cheese, all of which are commonplace today. In fact, diets relating to the Bible are still being used, including eating nothing but fruit, vegetables, and whole grains for 21 days (via The Atlantic).

However, a large number of bizarre snacks are recorded in the Bible. Biblical Archaeology Society explains that God asks the prophet Ezekiel to bake bread using  human excrement for fuel (though when Ezekiel protests, God relents and allows Ezekiel to use cow dung instead). Learn Religions notes that Moses ground the Golden Calf idol into dust, mixed the gold dust with water, and forced the Israelites to drink it. In the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar goes mad and eats grass.

In addition to the well-known tale of the Garden of Eden, with fruits from its tree of life, Biblical Archaeology Society describes the wonders of a special cake. The cake, along with some water, was given to the prophet Elijah by an angel, allowing him to complete a 40-day journey without any further nourishment.