Op-Ed: Learn to Cook!
Matthew 6: 11 “Give us this day our daily bread.”
By Van Yandell
The study of American history is fascinating in that it tells us of our heritage which determines our culture. One of the many subjects in the history of our nation is how the pioneers provided food for themselves.
While many of our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, many were also farmers. To provide food was a continual process and absolutely essential for survival as it has always been.
In Judges Chapter six we find Gideon threshing grain. By this passage we can know the Hebrew people were dependent on their ability to produce and harvest crops.
In early American history we find the use of grist mills. A large water wheel was constructed and placed by a stream where there was a waterfall. The falling water turned the wheel which was connected to grinding stones which ground the grain to produce flour or corn meal.
In previous times people ate for survival and not for entertainment. Nowhere in the Bible do we find someone asking another, “What restaurants have you eaten in lately?”
In today’s culture many think of cooking as going to the deli or frozen food section of the grocery. Those products we buy contain additives, which, in many cases, are harmful to our health and finally is being addressed by the government.
In the world today, many countries are seeing an increase in diseases and ailments not previously existing. Obesity is epidemic. Perhaps a part of the reasoning is because of the mass produced food products which contain preservatives and sugar/sweeteners to make them appeal to taste.
Perhaps we could consider the foods prepared in various countries/cultures. In sub-Saharan Africa we ate a dish called ugali. It is a mixture of white corn meal, water, salt and sometimes butter to enrich the taste. Githeri is a mixture of corn and beans. An interpreter discussing nutrition once made the statement, “beans and rice make a complete protein.”
In South Korea we ate kimchi. Mostly containing fermented cabbage, other ingredients, mostly spices, are added to make it exciting to the taste buds. In Russia, borscht is made of whatever can be had but mostly it is a beet soup with varying other ingredients.
These foods are mostly natural ingredients containing no sugar or preservatives. All this considered we can understand why Americans are among the most unhealthy people in the world.
The government shut-down of this fall brought to our attention the need for home cooking. Placing a manufactured dish in a microwave then presenting it to your family is not cooking!
Sad to say, many young people have not a clue how to prepare a meal like their grandmother. The economics of eating may soon dictate a return to the simpler foods that even the most inept can prepare at home.
The cost of a restaurant meal for four can cost as much as a week’s food supply. To develop common sense where the conserving of money is concerned is mostly a hopeless task. Many parents have taught sons and daughters the convenience of ordering in or pre-prepared meals from the frozen food section.
The Bible provides us with a listing of foods that are recommended by our Creator. Most would be in agreement that since He created us, He knows best on how we should be nourished.
Genesis 1: 29 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” A very short time after the creation of man (Genesis 1: 27) God told Adam and Eve what to eat.
Daniel 1: 8 “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
That changed in the New Testament because Paul recommended wine “for thy stomachs sake and thine often infirmities” (1 Timothy 5: 23). And Jesus changed water into wine at Cana (John 2: 7-10).
Daniel requested of the eunuch that he and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, be given vegetables and water. After ten days their countenance was observed to be healthier than those that had eaten the king’s meat and drank the wine.
Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy 14 are often referred to as the Biblical diet. While those chapters concern mostly with animal food products, we are encouraged to limit the consumption of certain meats.
Food preparation is not a lost art. Recipes and procedures for preparing meals “from scratch” are readily available. Entire sections in book stores are devoted to cook books and such instructions are numerous on web sites.
We might take a health lesson from Jesus. His physical condition was very likely excellent because He was a carpenter and He walked everywhere He went. Also His diet would have contained no chemicals or sugar. The only sweet product He might have consumed was honey.
We often hear the key to good health is diet and exercise. Jesus, the Savior of the world would have adhered to those practices. His lessons to us are many more than eternal salvation.
We must always teach that eternal salvation is attained by a faith based belief (Ephesians 2: 8) in Christ Jesus crucified (Matthew 27: 35) for the remission of sin (1 John 1: 9), resurrected (Matthew 28: 6) and ascended alive in to Heaven (Acts 1: 9).
Van Yandell is a retired Industrial Arts teacher, an ordained gospel evangelist and commissioned missionary. His email is vmy3451@gmail.com
