page_title: Jewish cuisine
section_title: Biblical era
hierarchical_section_title: Jewish cuisine / History of Jewish cuisine / Biblical era
context_page_description: Jewish cuisine refers to the cooking traditions of the Jewish people worldwide. It has evolved over many centuries, shaped by Jewish dietary laws, Jewish festival and Shabbat traditions. Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the whole world.
  The distinctive styles in Jewish cuisine are Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, Persian, Yemenite, Indian and Latin-American. There are also dishes from Jewish communities from Ethiopia to Central Asia.
  Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and particularly since the late 1970s, a nascent Israeli "fusion cuisine" has developed. Jewish Israeli cuisine has especially adapted a multitude of elements, overlapping techniques and ingredients from many diaspora Jewish culinary traditions.
context_section_description: The daily diet of the ordinary ancient Israelite was mainly one of bread, cooked grains and legumes. Bread was eaten with every meal. Vegetables played a smaller, but significant role in the diet. The Israelites drank goat and sheep's milk when it was available in the spring and summer and ate butter and cheese. Figs and grapes were the fruits most commonly eaten, while dates, pomegranates and other fruits and nuts were eaten more occasionally. Wine was the most popular beverage and sometimes other fermented beverages were produced. Olives were used primarily for their oil. Meat, usually goat and mutton, was eaten rarely and reserved for special occasions, such as celebrations, festival meals, or sacrificial feasts. Game, birds, eggs and fish were also eaten, depending on availability.
  Most food was eaten fresh and in season. Fruits and vegetables had to be eaten as they ripened and before they spoiled. People had to contend with periodic episodes of hunger and famine. Producing enough food required hard and well-timed labor and the climatic conditions resulted in unpredictable harvests and the need to store as much food as possible. Thus, grapes were made into raisins and wine, olives were made into oil, figs, beans and lentils were dried and grains were stored for use throughout the year.
  The cuisine maintained many consistent traits based on the main products available from the early Israelite period until the Roman period, even though new foods became available during this extended time. For example, rice was introduced during the Persian era. During the Hellenistic period, as trade with the Nabateans increased, more spices became available, at least for those who could afford them and more Mediterranean fish were imported into the cities. During the Roman period, sugar cane was introduced.
  The symbolic food of the ancient Israelites continued to be important among Jews after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora. Bread, wine and olive oil were seen as direct links to the three main crops of ancient Israel—wheat, grapes and olives. In the Bible, this trio is described as representing the divine response to human needs (Hosea 2:23-24) and, particularly, the need for the seasonal rains vital for the successful cultivation of these three crops. (Deuteronomy 11:13-14). The significance of wine, bread and oil is indicated by their incorporation into Jewish religious ritual, with the blessings over wine and bread for Shabbat and holiday meals and at religious ceremonies such as weddings and the lighting of Shabbat and festival lights with olive oil.
caption: Emmer wheat, cultivated in biblical times
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