Food Guide
The biblical food guide
Each card shows where the food appears in Scripture, what the text actually says, and what people often add to it.
Begin with the biblical category, then read the passage in context. Clean and unclean describe Israel's covenant life; permission is not a command to eat, and a symbol is not a medical promise.
Every entry separates the text's claim from interpretation and present-day stewardship, then points to deeper studies.
- Biblical permissionBeefClean animal under the Mosaic lawCattle appear throughout Scripture as food, as sacrifice and as wealth.
- Biblical permissionLambClean animal; central to PassoverThe lamb is both food and the deepest symbol in the biblical story.
- Biblical permissionGoatClean animal under the Mosaic lawGoats were everyday livestock: meat, milk, hair and hides.
- Biblical permissionDeer and wild gameClean, when the animal meets the criteriaHunted animals that chew the cud and have cloven hooves were permitted.
- Biblical commandPorkUnclean under the Mosaic lawForbidden to Israel by the criterion of the law. Whether that forbidding binds Christians is debated.
- Biblical permissionFish with fins and scalesClean under the Mosaic lawThe criterion is simple: fins and scales.
- Biblical commandShellfishUnclean under the Mosaic lawWater creatures without fins and scales were excluded for Israel.
- Biblical permissionEggsAssumed as ordinary foodEggs are mentioned in passing, as a normal part of life.
- Biblical principleMilkA picture of blessing and of beginningsMilk signals abundance in the Old Testament and spiritual infancy in the New.
- Biblical permissionCheese and curdsOrdinary food in ScriptureCheese appears as food carried to soldiers and served to guests.
- Biblical permissionBreadThe staple food of ScriptureBread is daily food, offering, and image of Christ himself.
- Biblical permissionWheat and barleyGrains of the promised landGrain harvests shape the biblical calendar and its feasts.
- Biblical permissionLentils and legumesEveryday food; the food of Daniel's testSimple food, present in two memorable stories.
- Biblical permissionFigsFruit of the landA common fruit and a recurring image of peace or of judgment.
- Biblical permissionGrapesFruit of the land; source of wineVineyards are everywhere in Scripture, in law, poetry and parable.
- Biblical permissionPomegranateFruit of the land; temple ornamentNamed among the land's gifts and carved into priestly garments.
- Biblical permissionOlives and olive oilFood, fuel, medicine and anointingOil runs through worship, hospitality and healing in Scripture.
- Biblical principleHoneyGood, with an explicit warning about excessOne of the few foods Scripture directly warns you not to overeat.
- Biblical principleSaltCovenant sign and image of preservationSalt in Scripture is mostly about covenant, offering and witness.
- InterpretationWinePermitted and praised; drunkenness condemnedScripture blesses wine and warns about it, sometimes in the same book.
- Biblical permissionHerbsGiven for food from the beginningHerbs appear from Genesis 1 to the Passover table.
- Biblical permissionNuts and almondsOrdinary food and giftAlmonds appear as gifts, and in Aaron's budding rod.
- Biblical permissionVegetablesGiven for food; also a picture of a simple tableProverbs 15:17 prefers a dinner of herbs with love to a fatted ox with hatred.
- Biblical principleMannaGod's provision in the wildernessBread from heaven, gathered daily, with no storing up.
- Biblical commandBloodExplicitly forbidden as foodOne of the clearest and longest-standing dietary commands in Scripture.
- Biblical permissionLocustsPermitted insects under the Mosaic lawLeviticus 11:22 permits certain locusts; John the Baptist ate them.
- Biblical principleWaterBasic provision and deep imageWater is life in a dry land, and the picture Jesus uses for himself.
- Biblical commandFat of sacrificesForbidden in the sacrificial contextLeviticus forbids eating the fat of sacrificial animals — a worship rule often misquoted as a diet rule.
- Biblical principleLeavenRegulated for feasts; used as a symbolLeaven is removed for Passover and used as an image of spreading influence.
- Biblical permissionBirds and fowlSome clean, some uncleanLeviticus 11 lists forbidden birds, mostly birds of prey and scavengers.