In recent years, there has been a rise in people who have "become vegan". I won't get into all the semantics of it, but I have become more familiar with it. Vegan is more than just a diet but it is a lifestyle where a person abstains from anything made from animal products. While I can't say that I'm a "true" vegan, I will say that I have turned to vegan or vegetarian options in my food choices.
During this time, I have wondered what exactly did Jesus eat during his time on Earth. Did He eat other animals that God created? Was He vegan before vegan was a thing? Most importantly, does it really matter if He was vegan or not?
Let's take a look at what He ate....
He ate a lot of bread for sure. Bread in Jesus' day wasn't made the same as we get it in our local grocery stores. According to Bible scholars, bread in first-century Galilee would have been made with wheat or barley flour. They had to grind grain into flour by hand using a tool called a quern. To leaven bread, bakers might use leftover dough from a previous batch of bread, which already had wild yeast growing in it, as a starter. Ingredients like olive oil, salt, and honey could have been included in some breads for flavor and texture. Bread was baked in small, domed clay ovens. Called tabun ovens, similar ovens are still in use across the Middle East today. Bread might be dipped in olive oil and served with olives or legumes to make the meal more substantial. Cheese, dates, and honey were also fairly commonplace menu items in first-century Galilee.
Jesus ate fish. There was certainly a lot of fish around since many of the disciples were fishermen so it was more than likely available for Jesus when He was with the disciples.
Jesus ate lamb. Yes, I hate to break that to you but the best Biblical evidence that Jesus ate meat is that He observed the annual feast of the Passover. That's just what they did then. The lamb sacrificed during Passover was roasted and eaten as a part of the requirements of the religious law at that time. Jesus took part in the feast every year as a child and as an adult He continued the observance of the law.
Scriptures which directly mention that Jesus ate:
- Matthew 9:10 - Jesus ate dinner at Matthew's house
- Luke 24:40-43 - The disciples gave Jesus some broiled fish and He ate it.
- Luke 22:15 - Jesus ate the Passover meal before his crucifixion
There's a lot of other scriptures which mention eating but do not actually say that Jesus ate something. Oddly enough, the miracle where Jesus took the five loaves and two fishes to feed the multitudes never mentioned that Jesus participated in eating. We just assume that He did.
Why would Jesus choose to eat animals He created? We don't have an answer for that but we also have to understand that it was a different time and culture at the time He was in human form on the earth. As human, He got hungry and He more than likely ate what He needed to eat to survive. He also didn't have the food choices that we have today.
We certainly don't need to get bent out of shape on what Jesus ate or drank. In fact, in the New Testament, He declared all food to be clean (Mark 7:19). Later, the Apostle Paul even spoke about not judging people on what they eat in Romans 14:2-3. If someone is vegan, vegetarian or eat all kinds of meat, it doesn't matter. Jesus said that life is more than food (Matthew 6:25). What's more important is our soul.
So was Jesus a vegan? Biblical evidence would suggest that He was not.
