Besides tlie vegetables above mentioned, the Jews were acquainted with the melon, tlio cucumber, the mallow, tlic leek, the onion, garlic, and bitter herbs. In Jol) vi, G, mention is made of r^'C^n "i^T, which Gesenius would trar\^\Ate. purshiin-slime, or jmrshnn- Z)ro/A = something extremely insipid (Thesaiir. p. 480). The reasons he gives for this arc not without force, but cannot he held conclusive. Tlie A. V. "white of an egg," follows the Uabliinieal interpretation, which EosenmuUcr, Kwald, etc., also approve ; Leo (ad verb.) and Fiirst prefer understanding it of the wliey of cur- dled milk ; Kenan translates iC lejus de I'l mauve.
The drinks of the Hebrews were, l>csides water, ■which was their ordinary beverage, milk, wine, and
"ird, which in the A. V. is rendered stronrj drinl-. To give the water a stronger relish, the}' probablj' some- times dissolved a portion of fig-cake in it, according to the fashion of the Arabs at the present day (Niebuhr, Arab. p. 57). The wines used were of various sorts, and sometimes their efiect was strengthened by ming- ling different Icinds together, or by the mixture with tliem of drugs (Psa. Ixxv, 9; Prov. ix, 23, 30; Isa. v, 22). A species of delicacj' seems to have been fur- nished l)y "spiced wines," that is, wines flavored by aromatic herbs, or perhaps simply bv the juice of the pomegranate (Cant, viii, 2). No mention is made in Scripture of tlie mixing of water witii wine for the purpose of drinking it ; the reference in Isa. i, 22 be- ing to tlie adulteration of wine by fraudulent dealers ; but the liabit was so common in ancient times (comp. Od//ss. i, 110 ; ix, 208 sq. ; Hippocrates, Be Morb. iii, 30 ; Lucian, A sin. vii ; Plin. //. Nat. xxiii, 22) that we can hardly doubt that it was known also among the Hebrews. See Wine. Vinegar, "j'^cn, was also used by them as a means of quenching thirst (Ruth ii, 14; Num. yi, 3) ; mixed with oil, this is still a favorite in the East, and mixed witli water, it was drunk by tlie Roman soldiers and poor under the name of posca (Pliny, II. Nat. xix, 29; xxii, 58; Plautus, Mil. Glor. iii, 2, 23). See Drink.
The Hebrews made use of condiments to heighten the flavor of their dishes, as well as of spices to in- crease the effect of their wines. Besides the general condiment salt, they used cumin, dill, mint, corian- der, rue, mustard, and the seeds of an herb to which they gave the name of n^J?, " fitches." Sometimes their made dishes were so richly flavored that the na- ture of the meat used could not be discovered (Gen. xxvii, 9, 25). Besides myrrh, with which thej- flavoi> ed their w ines, the Hebrews used various odoriferous products ; but whether thej' used any of these with food is uncertain. See Aromatics.
II. Methods of PrejmtrUion. — The early acquaint- ance of the race with the use of fire renders it proba- bla that from the beginning men used some process of cooking in the preparation of their food, except in the case of such products as are more agreeable to the pal- ate in a crude than in a concocted state. The cereali were sometimes eaten raw (Lev. xxiii, 14 ; Deut. xxiii, 25 ; 2 Kings iv, 42 ; Matt, xii, 1) ; but from an early period it was customary to roast the grains, and so pre- pare them for food (Lev. ii, 14 ; comp. Robinson, /iib. Ees. ii, 304). This received the name of'^p (more fully rXS 1^5;? n-':;X)and Nip;^, A.V. "parched corn;" and was eaten either dry or formed into a sort of por- ridge, perhaps something after the manner ofthepllmo in the East at the present day. This was not peculiar to the Hebrews; even as late as the time of Virgil roasting Avas a recognised metliod of preparing corn for use (Georr/. i, 267), though this may have been only prejiaratory to bruising it (comp. Servius on ^^'Jn. i, 179; Pliny, //. A^ xviii, 18, 23). For the preparation and kinds of bread in use among the Hebrews, see Bread and jMiee.
Vegetables were cooked by boiling, and seem to have been made into a pottage (T'T2, the Niph. part, of 1^1, to boil, Gen. xxv, 30, 34 ; 2 Kings iv, ,38, 39), prob- ably strengthened by the addition of some oily sub- stance, such as butter or fat, or by having bones and gristles boiled down with them, as is still customary in the East (Shaw, Travels, p. 125, cited by Jahn, Archuol. I, ii, 190).
When animal food was to be used, tlie animal was killed in such a way as to allow all the blood to leave the carcase, in order scrupulously to observe the pro- hil)ition, Exod. xxii, 31. Among the modern Jews, this is accomiilislied by cutting the tliroat of the ani- mal quite through, and then suspending the carcase so as to allow all the blood to run out ^ the entrails with
FOOD
613
FOOT
the fat are removed, the nerves and %-eins extracted, and strict search is made lest anj' drop of blood should be allowed to remain in any part (Buxtorf, Syn. Jud. ch. xxvii). The flesh, thus prepared for cooking, was commonly boiled in water (V^'3? J^iel of P'r3\ proba- bly also sometimes in milk, as is still the case among the Arabs. Before being put into the pot, the flesh, freed from the skin, appears to have been cut into small pieces, or perhaps this was done during the process of cooking (Mic. iii, 3 ; comp. Hitzig, ad loc). The broth and the tlesh were served up separately (Judg. vi, !{>), and lioth were eaten with bread. Salt was used to season the food ; spices were also occasionally intro- duced, and highly flavored dishes were sometimes pre- pared (Ezek. xxiv, 10 ; Gen. xxvii, 4 ; Prov. xxiii, 3). For boiling, the pot or caldron was used ; and the fuel was commonly wood, especially thorns (Eccles. vii, 6; Psa. Iviii, 9 ; Isa. xliv, 16 ; Ezek. xxiv, 10), sometimes the dried excrement of animals (Ezek. iv, 15), a species of fuel still much used in the East (Irljy and Man- gles's Travels, p. 172 ; Kae Wilson's Travels, ii, 156 ; Hue's Travels, passim). Food was also prepared hy roasting (ri3!i). This w^as regarded as the more luxu- rious mode of preparation, and was resoi'ted to chiefly on festive occasions. The paschal lamb -was to be roasted whole (Exod. xii, 4, 6), but it does not appear that this was the usual method of roasting flesh; it is more probable that the ancient Hebrews, like the mod- ern Arabs, roasted their meat in small portions bj' means of short spits of wood or metal placed near the fire, and turned as the process of cooking required (comp. Odi/ss. iii, 461-2, etc. ; //. i, 465, etc.). Birds were roasted whole on such a spit. The Persians roast lambs and calves entire by placing them in an oven (Tavernier, i, 269 ; Cliardin, iii, 88), and this may also have prevailed among the Hebrews. Among the poor, locusts were eaten roasted, as is still common among the Arabs, whose method of cooking them is as fol- lows : the feet and wings having been plucked off, and the entrails taken out, the body is salted, and then roasted by means of a wooden spit, on which a row of bodies similarly prepared arc strung. Fish were usual- ly broiled (Luke xxiv, 42; John xxi, 9), but it would seem that they were sometimes cured, or at least brought into a state in which they could be used with- out f irther cooking (Matt, xiv, 17, 19 ; xv, 34, 36). In either case they were eaten with l)read.