What is Food?

Leviticus 11

What did God consider to be food? What are the dietary standards for God's people?

Austin James

In modern day, Christians primarily eat whatever they want because they deemed food laws as part of the old covenant. These food laws today are what we label as "Kosher". When most people think "kosher", they assume it means you have a million rules on what you can and can't eat when really that isn't the case. It would be hard to remember which 'foods' are safe if you had to keep track of each animal in your head or go to a grocery store with a list of 'permitted' foods. The food laws were actually quite simple and extremely healthy. It surprises me that this is not currently a popular diet plan for non-kosher-observing Christians today as it is the diet prescribed by God himself.

Summing It Up Before We Start

As far as land animals go, you can eat anything that chews the cud and has a cloven foot which include things like cows, sheep, goats, deer, etc. If you are feeling more seafood, you can eat literally anything that has fins and scales on it. When it comes to insects, you can eat any bug that has jointed legs for jumping that also flys such as grasshoppers, beetles, and crickets. And lastly, if you want some poultry, you can eat almost any common bird such as duck, geese, chicken, quail, doves, and sparrow. 

I've divided the foods into two primary parts with scriptural backing where applicable. The clean foods are the ones mentioned as being "food" while the unclean are the ones that are not food and anyone who eats it may get sick 

Breakdown of Clean Foods

LAND FOOD

Any beast that has a cloven-foot AND chews the cud among the beasts is clean to eat. (Lev 11:3)

SEA FOOD

Anything with fins AND scales that lives in the water, seas, and rivers is clean to eat. (Lev 11:9) This pretty much opens you up to every fish in the ocean. The only odd fish that some might not know about is catfish, which does not have scales and thus it is not Kosher. 

AIR FOOD

Any flying creeping thing with jointed legs to leap into the air with. (Lev 11:21) And any birds not on the forbidden list (see the unclean section below).

Breakdown of Unclean Animals

LAND ANIMALS

Anything that does not have a cloven-foot or chews the cud as well as any beast that has a cloven-foot OR chews the cud, but not both among the beasts are unclean and you should not eat it (Lev 11:4). Anything that goes on its paws like a beast is also unclean (Lev 11:27) and any creeping thing that has more than 4 feet are unclean (Lev 11:42)

SEA ANIMALS

Anything that does not have fins and scales that also live in water is not food, it is unclean. (Lev 11:10). So if you are a sushi lover, stick with the fish-based sushi rather than the bottom-feeder sushi such as fried crab, octopus, and shrimp. 

AIR ANIMALS

All fowls that creep going on all four shall be an abomination (Lev 11:20) as well as any flying creeping things with four feet is an abomination (Lev 11:23). Unlike land animals, there are no real guidelines as to what is clean - however, there is something that the unclean birds have in common; unclean birds devour their food in the air or press it down with their feet and tear it apart with their bills. As a general rule of thumb, it is safe to stay away from predatory birds and scavenger birds. 

Notes on the Carcasses of the Unclean

We have a few final rules about the carcasses of the unclean animals as well. Pretty much, just don't touch them, they are unclean and even more unclean now that they are dead. 

• Do not touch the carcass of an unclean land animal. (Lev 11:8)
• Do not touch the carcass of unclean sea animals (Lev 11:11)
• Do not touch the carcass of the unclean flying things (Lev 11:24)
• Do not eat anything you find dead (Deut 14:21)