This is how much God likes food, he mentions it before people.
Yup, it’s right there in Genesis. He made all of the yummy vegetation days before people graced the scene. And I hadn’t noticed this before, food is mentioned not once, but twice before the fall. And it was good.
God seems quite pleased with and focused on Adam and Eve knowing about and enjoying food. Like a good Jewish mom, God hovers over Adam and Eve saying, “eat, eat, I made this for you. Next try this. Oh, I just know you’re going to love this! What do you mean you’re full? Just a nibble? OK?”
You can sense the delight.
But that which was one of our greatest gifts, the enjoyment of taste, became the gateway to our down fall. The slippery slope began with a question about food.
“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Look at the greatest problems in the world today: starvation, obesity, and clean drinking water. All related to tasting or lack thereof.
Again, the Jewish Mother God, hovers over Her children wanting them not to fill holes with food. Food that was meant to delight, not numb. Wanting all of Her children to have enough nutrition. To not dread or fear illness because of poor sanitation. Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Look at all I’ve made for you. All I want for you. All my love tucked in to the food I made. She whispers over the seeds, over the farmer’s beds, over the parents as they hunt and gather, over Her children as we eat.
But we live in extremes, having not yet mastered the tension between abundance and scarcity. Living as hoarders and fear mongers. The ability to preserve food is a marvel. Once salt was understood, canning perfected, and Vitamin C’s relationship to scurvy understood, the world shrank. And this is good!
With it, however, can the false sense that we are in control of more than we are. Our daily bread became our monthly stock pile.
The Jewish Mother God knew from the beginning that She would need to become the Jewish Man God and walk amongst us. Feeding us with loaves and fishes and redefining blessing.
And taste was woven through the span of the story. At the Last Supper he reminded us to eat, drink, taste my blessing, take into your body suffering, do this in remembrance of me.
I know that God loves all of our senses, but he seems to have a special place in his heart for food. As we eat today, may we slow down enough to taste what God has made for us. To taste his delight and the variety for flavors. To taste his love.
How do you taste God? What are some of your favorite flavors? (I’m partial to tea and peanut butter toast.)
Linking with The Grove — prompt: taste
Photo credit: Bob Fornal on Flickr
Raspberries, a cup of coffee, and browsing thru TED talks (Gods creative variety expressed in and thru people from all over the world)
Love the combo of food for the bod and mind :). Overall feeding, eh?
Love what you did with this, Amy! Layers of goodness here.
I am CRAZY about tea and peanut butter toast. English breakfast tea with milk in it, of course. :) Love all the connections you made here.
Is there any other way to drink tea?! I love English Breakfast with milk. Love, love, love.
Bergamot, pizza, cinnamon, Indian curry, raspberries warmed by the sun. Loved this post, Amy! Got my mind wheeling into thinking about God’s flavors right before bed! Yum!
And now you’ve got my mind spinning with flavors. YUM.
Amy, i love this. I love that it seems like food is extremely important in most cultures- the rituals around eating, what you eat, how you eat it, who with, where everyone sits, etc. Food is central. I’ve also recently become interested in learning how food is different among different cultures… kind of like linguistics for food- why do we have a lot of the same ingredients but cook them differently? how has food changed across cultures over time? Im so glad God made food GOOD. and that i get to experience so many different flavors from around the world. Really looking forward to some Thai green curry soon.
Oh and Thai Iced tea!!! And love the connection you made with food and cultures and rituals. One ritual I’ll miss, having curry with you in Thailand :)
Amy I am with you on the tea and peanut butter toast. My staple for breakfast, especially now that I make my own bread.
Great minds and all :) … oh, especially on homemade bread!
Wow! I’ve never quite thought about taste that way! Love this! And as to my favorite flavors: chai tea and my Mom’s sweet potato casserole!
Chai … oh me too. So. many. great. flavors.
a good cup of coffee, tuna salad on toasted english muffins, and a bowl of my mom’s chicken and dumplins
You had me at TUNA!!! (especially on baguette)