The Powerful Forces Behind Cultural Food Mores

We may misunderstand the significance of food and dining in the Bible if we fail to understand the powerful cultural mores related to food. We can easily transfer our judgments about foods (that particular food is “bad”) to the people who eat them (those people are bad). We may apply negative values to Minahasans who eat rat meat, for example, or rural Americans who eat squirrel (which is essentially just furry rat that lives in trees). “How could anyone, especially a Christian, eat a rat?”

Ironically, our Asian friends are appalled that Americans eat cheese. “Do you have any idea…