“Picky Eater”

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Are any foods prohibited from consumption by the New Testament?  I once visited a church where the members were debating whether eating rare beef was prohibited because of the presence of blood.  Is this splitting hairs?  Is it merely cultural that we do not eat certain animals such as horses, or is there Biblical basis in this?  I believe I'm recalling Old Testament Law which specified eating only animals with "cloven hooves"?

Sincerely,
Nom Nom Nom

Dear Nom Nom Nom,

The Old Testament laws concerning what could and could not be eaten can be found in Lev. 11, but there is only one type of food that christians cannot eat – blood (Acts 15:29).  When an animal is killed, some cultures will strangle the animal so as to keep the blood in the meat, as opposed to draining the blood out.  It is probably a misunderstanding on what it means to eat the meat with the blood that caused the discussion that you mentioned over rare beef.  Things like blood sausage, blood soup, blood stew, etc. are popular dishes in some countries, but eating them is wrong.  All meat is clean for New Testament christians (Mk 7:19), but blood is not.

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