Belated happy birthday aka Merry Xmas!
Post Da Vinci Code, I began to explore more of your temporal/material aspects in various dimensions basically in the artistic expressions from the tracts to Eco to Da Vinci to documentaries and many more. After reading Jean Soller (1997); I, lately, realised that one more aspect of yours that was truly neglected throughout is about food.
In the beginning, all life belongs to the God. Humans were created “in the image” of God, and defined food. God has his nourishment of “living beings” through sacrifices - human or animals, and humans have plants (not among the “living things”) but not “the Forbidden fruit” - knowledge of procreation. Adam and Eve, hence, were deprived of the pleasures of flesh. In other words, a fundamental difference between the two is expressed by the difference in their “foods” and procreation which nourishes each other well.
This worldview supports that the Paradise was, undoubtedly, vegetarian (Gen. 1:29). There were no meat dishes in the Paradise. But humans revolted twice for meat (Exod. 16:3; Num 11:4, 19-20). It was after the Flood — a new creation took place in terms of food - meat as a concession (Gen 9:3) but not blood because the latter was considered as life and belongs to the God (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:11). Unfortunately, there was no blood pudding.
To the dietary norms of “cleanness,” which is used to characterise permissible food basically to pattern with the Creator’s intension, Moses (Lev. 20:24-25) added a category of “hoofed foot, cloven foot, and chew the cud” to the dietary regime. Hence, the many sociocultural systems had pig, but they were deprived of pork. Still many remains “pork free.”
Secondly, “blemish” was considered an evil (Lev. 22:21). Later “blemish” generates ideas about “perfect, abled” vs. an evil. Consequently, menstrual blood and semen became “unclean.” Also fermented food. In some cases, it is extended to wine and/or exotic food items too.
Thirdly, “incest” - basically “no intermarriage, no cross dressing, no homosexuality and also no hybridity,” and “bestiality” were tools to maintain the order of the world. With respect to cooking, it is a culinary incest — “no milk and meat together in the same pot” (Exod. 23: 19, 34) -- similar to “in the same bed.” Basically, there were no fusion, exotic and experimental foods - no creation.
Since it was a difficult situation to live with so many dietary restrictions with regard to food, there were ruptures in the dietary prescriptions symbolising ruptures in the belief by questioning ‘what is food?’
Mark (7:19) declared all food “clean.” Peter ate “unclean” food with a non-Jew, and baptised Cornelius, who was the first non-Jew convert. With the abolition of the distinction between “clean” and “unclean” foods, there was the abolition of the distinction between Jews and non-Jews. “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a human, but what comes out of the mouth” (Matt. 15:11) led a wider range of food items to be accepted as edible food. In the Mass, blood is consumed by the priest in the form of wine. Again, signifying priest as a hybrid of human and God, and connecting the two; therefore, overriding “blemish” and “incest.” Through these acts, you made us same, at least, in the dietary terms if not equal. And by denouncing the dietary prescriptions, you made a new creation where food has become a signifier of sharing, synthesising, and above all of love.
At the last meal, thus you said to your disciples to eat bread and drink wine as symbols of your body and blood “in remembrance of me” (Cor. 11:24-25). Da Vinci knew this aspect (and desire) of yours to be remembered as a foodie, thus he painted The Last Supper.
Now I am firmly sure that you were also a foodie like Buddha (and like many of us).Jesus Christ as a foodie
Post Da Vinci Code, I began to explore more of your temporal/material aspects in various dimensions basically in the artistic expressions from the tracts to Eco to Da Vinci to documentaries and many more. After reading Jean Soller (1997); I, lately, realised that one more aspect of yours that was truly neglected throughout is about food.
In the beginning, all life belongs to the God. Humans were created “in the image” of God, and defined food. God has his nourishment of “living beings” through sacrifices - human or animals, and humans have plants (not among the “living things”) but not “the Forbidden fruit” - knowledge of procreation. Adam and Eve, hence, were deprived of the pleasures of flesh. In other words, a fundamental difference between the two is expressed by the difference in their “foods” and procreation which nourishes each other well.
This worldview supports that the Paradise was, undoubtedly, vegetarian (Gen. 1:29). There were no meat dishes in the Paradise. But humans revolted twice for meat (Exod. 16:3; Num 11:4, 19-20). It was after the Flood — a new creation took place in terms of food - meat as a concession (Gen 9:3) but not blood because the latter was considered as life and belongs to the God (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:11). Unfortunately, there was no blood pudding.
To the dietary norms of “cleanness,” which is used to characterise permissible food basically to pattern with the Creator’s intension, Moses (Lev. 20:24-25) added a category of “hoofed foot, cloven foot, and chew the cud” to the dietary regime. Hence, the many sociocultural systems had pig, but they were deprived of pork. Still many remains “pork free.”
Secondly, “blemish” was considered an evil (Lev. 22:21). Later “blemish” generates ideas about “perfect, abled” vs. an evil. Consequently, menstrual blood and semen became “unclean.” Also fermented food. In some cases, it is extended to wine and/or exotic food items too.
Thirdly, “incest” - basically “no intermarriage, no cross dressing, no homosexuality and also no hybridity,” and “bestiality” were tools to maintain the order of the world. With respect to cooking, it is a culinary incest — “no milk and meat together in the same pot” (Exod. 23: 19, 34) -- similar to “in the same bed.” Basically, there were no fusion, exotic and experimental foods - no creation.
Since it was a difficult situation to live with so many dietary restrictions with regard to food, there were ruptures in the dietary prescriptions symbolising ruptures in the belief by questioning ‘what is food?’
Mark (7:19) declared all food “clean.” Peter ate “unclean” food with a non-Jew, and baptised Cornelius, who was the first non-Jew convert. With the abolition of the distinction between “clean” and “unclean” foods, there was the abolition of the distinction between Jews and non-Jews. “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a human, but what comes out of the mouth” (Matt. 15:11) led a wider range of food items to be accepted as edible food. In the Mass, blood is consumed by the priest in the form of wine. Again, signifying priest as a hybrid of human and God, and connecting the two; therefore, overriding “blemish” and “incest.” Through these acts, you made us same, at least, in the dietary terms if not equal. And by denouncing the dietary prescriptions, you made a new creation where food has become a signifier of sharing, synthesising, and above all of love.
At the last meal, thus you said to your disciples to eat bread and drink wine as symbols of your body and blood “in remembrance of me” (Cor. 11:24-25). Da Vinci knew this aspect (and desire) of yours to be remembered as a foodie, thus he painted The Last Supper.
Now I am firmly sure that you were also a foodie like Buddha (and like many of us).Jesus Christ as a foodie
