Reviews for Cooking with the Bible
Finally an answer to the question: What would Jesus eat? In Cooking with the Bible,
Anthony Chiffolo and Rayner Hesse, Jr., detail 18 meals--16 dinners, a lunch and
a breakfast--found in the Scriptures....While the authors aimed for authenticity
and spent three-plus years on research, they improvised some to settle on just the
right ingredients. What they concocted is almost equal parts spiritual, historical
and gastronomical--and truly food for thought.
—Reader's Digest
If food connects us to each other, to our families, and to our history, then Cooking
with the Bible helps to connect us to biblical stories and peoples. Selecting passages
from the book of Genesis through the Gospels, authors Chiffolo and Hesse first offer
an accessible, easily understood commentary on the context of each story and then,
using mostly ingredients available in common grocery stores, create menus with recipes
to invoke the meal highlighted in the selected passage. While cooks of all abilities
would enjoy trying their hand at the recipes listed, it is a great book for small
and large bible study and fellowship groups who want to engage bible stories with
all their senses, not just their intellect.
—Food and Faith/Presbyterians Today
[Cooking with the Bible] has a richness of stories, imagination, and yes, recipes
that bring us back to the real meaning of food and feast. It reminds us that in
biblical times, the lives of Christians and Jews alike centered on the breaking
of bread.
—Anglican Journal
BUY Cooking with the Bible for your beloved, and perhaps he or she will produce
Solomon’s love feast for you on St. Valentine’s Day. This blend of biblical stories,
culinary notes, and recipes has seduced me.
—Church Times
Essays explore the religious and cultural significance of 18 passages that revolve
around meals, such as King David's wedding or the feast to celebrate the return
of the prodigal son. Hesse and Chiffolo then present an imagined menu for each occasion.
The recipes use modern kitchen equipment—no need to fry the fish on hot stones—but
draw heavily on ingredients mentioned in the Bible or known to have been available
in the ancient Middle East.
—Los Angeles Times/Jackson Hole Star Tribune/The Seattle Times/Ashland Daily Tidings/Toronto
Star/Chicago Tribune/The Advocate
Illustrated with mouth-watering photos of the recipes and containing detailed maps
of the lands of the Bible as well as extensive commentary, Cooking with the Bible
is a feast for the eyes, the palate and the soul.
—Faith & Friends
If mealtime has turned into drudgery, here's an answer to your prayers: a unique
cookbook that seeks to unearth the culinary secrets of Abraham, Sarah, King David,
Ruth, Esther, Jesus of Nazareth and other biblical luminaries....It perfectly blends
the historical settings and cultural significance of the biblical feasts and offers
easy-to-follow preparation for the menus and recipes. Though based on the Old and
New Testaments, the book is instructive, educational and above all, entertaining.
—The Scarsdale Inquirer
Cooking with the Bible is a must read for any kitchen. Authors Anthony F. Chiffolo
and Rayner W. Hesse Jr. put not only a great deal of imagination into this book,
they energize the need to get in touch with the spirituality found in the Bible
through food and feasts. Not only are there culinary challenges found in their writing,
but each chapter is food for thought. It's a whole new way to look at the Bible.
—The Catholic Register
This meticulously arranged cookbook is the brainchild of Chiffolo, editorial director of Praeger Publishers, and Hesse, a chef and ordained Episcopal priest....A chronology and maps precede 18 biblically inspired menus, which make up Part 1. The passages from which the menus are derived were taken from six different translations of the Bible (whichever one presented the most information about the meal). Notes are given where appropriate. Many wonderful, easy-to-follow recipes illustrate the care that was taken to explore the tastes and traditions of the Middle East, including Egyptian Caraway Seed Bread (eesh baladi ), Roast Quail with Apricots and Pecans, and Ground Lamb with Potatoes and Tomatoes (Kufta). Part 2, "The Lore of the Ingredients," is a culinary dictionary, religious reference, and historical analysis in one….Recommended….
—Library Journal