What food did the ancient Israelites really eat and how much of it did they consume? This seemingly simple question yields an incredibly complex answer. Nathan MacDonald sifts through five main type of evidence relevant to this diet examination: the biblical text, archaeological data, comparative evidence from the ancient world, comparative evidence from modern anthropological research, and modern scientific knowledge of geography and nutrition.
MacDonald opens by examining biblical descriptions of the land of Israel and the Israelite diet, considering the context of ancient rhetoria and thrology. In section two he delves into archaeological finds from Iron Age Israel. The difficult problem of exploring the adequacy of the ancient Israelite diet in section three where MacDonald points out the impossibility of definitive conclusions on this question. The final section is an evaluation of the variety and healthiness of the diet. He also reflects here on claims made by poplar contemporary "biblical diets" and analyzes a number of books calling for a return to "biblical eating."
