01x08 - Biblical Food

[bunniefuu]

[music]

I'm going on an adventure.

There's only one way to figure it out.

Unzip the archeology. Make it naked.

[MALE VOICE] Canaan!

Land of Milk and Honey!

Source of the Food that will save your soul!

A place for people on the move -

and the home of the rare and legendary biblical cows.

[SIMCHA] The bible tells us that...

...after years of wandering in the Desert,

the Children of Israel settled in...

...a rich and firtile land.

From Moses to Jesus, the people of the Bible...

...enjoyed a varied, delicious and healthy diet.

I'm about to discover more about what they ate.

Biblical food.

Biblical archaeology.

The two go together.

You can tell a lot from the archaeology of food...

...because man does not live by bread alone.

Food is basic to the fruit of the soul.

In fact, biblical food is soul food.

So I decided to investigate the whole issue...

...of biblical food by making some.

And where do you start?

Water. You've got to drink.

Get my own water in a biblical kind of way.

There are literally hundreds...

...of food references in the bible,

but the bible lists ingredients, not recipes.

My mission is to resurrect a biblical recipe...

...and bring to my home in Thornhill.

I am going to bring history back to life...

...cause I want to see what it tastes like!

This is unbelievably good.

[SIMCHA] My journey begins with Neot Kedumim,

a historic nature preserve...

...that's home to hundreds of plant and animal species...

...that thrived during the biblical era.

Here I'm meeting with Tova Dickstein,

a biblical food expert.

Our food today, we are spoiled, I would say.

We have ingredients that didn't exist in the Bible.

All the vegetables, you know, tomato, pepper,

all those they didn't have.

No chocolate. No coffee. No tea.

Nothing.

They didn't have coffee?

Can you believe it?

[SIMCHA] Tova is applying her knowledge of botany...

and zoology to years of biblical study.

This is hyssop. -That's hyssop?

Hyssop. -Smell's heavenly.

[SIMCHA] Tova has agreed to teach me...

...how to prepare a biblical dish.

My first lesson: How to make olive oil. Biblical style.

So what have we got here?

Here we have the olive press, from biblical time.

This is the Roman age, like years ago.

Fairly modern. -Yeah maybe.

Can I try? -Yeah, sure.

There's no ox.

There's no donkey.

But there's me.

Do you want to hitch me up?

I'm kidding. -I'm not kidding.

[SIMCHA] The first step...

...is to crush the olives using this ancient olive press.

This is naked archeology, know what I mean?

[SIMCHA] Now that I have this olive paste,

I need to squeeze the oil out.

Olive oil was the cooking oil in biblical time.

If I'm going to do any biblical cooking,

olive oil is ingredient number one.

No wonder there was so much religion...

...and philosophy in ancient days.

If you sat around all day...

...going backwards and forwards like this,

your mind starts to wander.

My olive oil. Is there a technique to this?

Am I making great olive oil?

Do some people have the touch?

It's the same. It's the same.

All the time.

You don't have magic touch I think.

[SIMCHA] We know the ancients had olive oil,

but you can't live on that alone.

So I decided to check with...

...Professor Amnon Ben-Tor at the biblical city of Hazor...

...to see what else the ancients ate.

Here he has discovered actual food remains.

These are storage houses.

What kind of food did you find here?

Khita. Wheat.

What else? -That's it.

So this was basically for storing wheat.

We having nearly kilos of it.

It's quite a lot.

Really? -Yup.

[SIMCHA] Wheat was the gourmet grain...

...of the ancient world and from the...

...very first book of Genesis to the last Book of Revelations,

the Bible constantly praises its value.

But what else can Hazor tell us?

We are standing in a year-old kitchen.

Right? -Exactly.

So what you're telling me is...

...the guys used to sit out there...

...watching television and the women were here?

Exactly.

What we have here is a cooking corner.

You see two ovens,

originally much higher, something like this.

They are made of clay you can see very well.

Usually they make pita bread.

Did you find any evidence...

...of what kind of food was cooked here?

More than the bones.

You found bones? -Oh yes.

Lot of birds, different kinds of birds.

Definitely they ate geese and birds like this.

A lot of sheep and goat. Some cattle.

Can you show me the bones?

I can show you the bones.

Me and my big mouth. Why do I-

You mentioned bones!

Look, you want bones? Bones.

I see here.

Oh, look at this.

That's a horn.

Wow. Can I touch it?

You can touch anything you like.

Does this look like a chicken bone to you?

I don't know what kind of bone.

I'm not a bone expert.

Can I take a bone home?

You can take the bone home.

Thank you.

[SIMCHA] Okay, so the people of Hazor...

...enjoyed the odd barbecue.

From that kitchen of an average every day Joe Schmo...

...we can at least guess what was for supper.

We know from the Bible...

...that cattle were very valuable...

...for their production of milk...

and their consumption was usually only during festivals...

...and religious holidays.

Archaeology shows us that biblical cows...

...were much smaller than today's modern cows.

And apparently some of these creatures still exist.

So I'm going to try and find some.

Hey, there are some cows over there.

Biblical cows.

I think these are the type that actually charge you.

He's got big horns.

Hey, cow, moo, moo.

It's a biblical cow-mating thing.

The truth is those are not biblical cows.

They're too big.

And that's an interesting thing archaeologically speaking.

You look at bones and you figure out how big were they.

They couldn't have been big like these kind of Texas cows.

It seems that there's only about of those biblical cows left.

It's a species that's almost extinct...

...and I'm looking for them and I haven't found them yet.

[SIMCHA] To learn more about...

...what the ancients ate,

I'm on my way to...

...the great mountain fortress, Masada.

Guy Stiebel, an archaeologist at the Masada excavation,

has uncovered some really interesting food remains.

We've decided to meet for a coffee...

...before our long day ahead.

So you didn't find any ancient coffee makers?

No, but we've got ovens...

...and we've got food remains at Masada.

I can tell you everything you wish to know...

...about the Last Supper of King Herod the Great.

[SIMCHA] Masada was built by King Herod the Great..

...as a royal refuge in case of a rebellion.

It's both a lavish palace, and a formidable fortress.

Here, Herod's regal appetite is well represented.

What is special about Masada...

...is you always have something extra.

You've got fish sauce from south of Spain;

you've got wine produced in south of Italy.

Apples from a place called Cumae...

So he's sitting there in the middle of the desert...

...and he's having apples from northern Italy...

...wine from south, from Italy?

This is a discerning pallet.

It's good to be king.

See you at Masada.

Suckers!

[SIMCHA] years after Herod's death,

Jewish rebels made a last stand here...

...against Roman authority.

I know Herod the Great lived like a king,

but what I want to know is how did the rebels live.

We were talking palaces.

This is not a palace. We're part of the defense.

We are in the casemate wall.

And this is real life.

This is a real living quarter for one of the defenders?

Yes.

What we have behind us,

this is a silo where they kept their grain and wheat.

Nothing was reconstructed.

You can see the walls, this is original plaster.

And this is the place where you would place your oil lamp.

And you have a niche,

if you would like a closet where you put your-

Your cell phone, your wallet.

And if you look here, this is a stove.

A cooking place.

A real little stove here.

You came home. You wanted a tea.

And you would cook here and again...

...Masada is so special,

not only that we have this stove intact,

you have the remains of the ashes from cooking.

This is what you get, I mean, smoke coming up.

Right, so this the actual-

Yes, this is the original ash.

Ash from whatever they cooked on the stove.

Yes, this is not a destruction.

This is just from daily life...

...and you can imagine a cooking pot just in place here,

They would put the wood in here.

I can smell it.

I can feel it. I am not joking.

I mean it's so real.

It is not some museum under glass.

Why is it so well preserved here?

We're in the middle of the desert...

...and because of this aridness and it is so dry,

things will preserve here.

I'm talking about thousands of years.

This is part of working here at Masada.

Everything seemed to preserve.

Archaeology does not get better than this.

No, it can't.

[SIMCHA } Now it's time to go grocery shopping.

I need ingredients for the biblical meal...

...I'm going to bring back home.

And there's no better place to go...

...than the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem.

People have been shopping here for decades...

...and it's home to the freshest local produce in the country.

When you're looking for authentic,

natural Biblical foods, this is the place to be.

This is Fee-Fee.

You don't know how lucky you are...

...that the Philistines aren't around anymore.

Fee-fee is very happy about kosher laws.

I think I'm in a market for some honey.

It's medicine of the bible. Better than locusts.

This is, this is really good.

Now tell me, if you were making a meal,

a biblical meal, what would you put in it?

Wheat, with honey, with dates, with olives.

This is Garden of Eden food. This is Garden of Eden food.

I'm glad that you think so.

Pomegranate juice.

The best olive oil in all of Israel.

You don't smoke this stuff?

No, no.

Come here, buy something, good, good stuff.

It's biblical, it's cheap, it's organic.

And I want, and I want to tell you Elan...

...I don't want you to feel this should be on the house...

...because I'm giving you all the publicity.

I want to pay for it. Do you know what I mean?

I insist on paying.

[SIMCHA] This is my kind of food.

Simple, delicious and Biblical.

I'm now fully stocked with all natural foods...

...right from the pages of the Bible...

...and straight off the fields of Israel.

I'm going to explore this awesome market.

Cause you never know what you'll find.

[SIMCHA] Here I am in the Mahane Yeduda Market,

and I've heard about this Yemenite guy...

...who uses foods mentioned in the bible...

...in homemade remedies and medicines.

Open Sesame.

[SIMCHA] I definitely have to check this out.

Okay, tell me what you've got here.

Etrach juice. -Etrach juice?

It's when your body need this one, not this one.

It tastes good, it's biblical and it heals you.

All right. -Yeah, very healthy.

Kind'a green, isn't it.

Very rich.

This one, the first one.

Oh, this is hot. Wow, hot stuff.

Cinnamon, ginger, dates.

You feel the taste of the old time?

I feel the taste of old times.

I do things from my pure heart.

The soul is inside.

So this is real soul food.

No, we have inside the best healing.

kay, let's go over there, and he's going to heal me.

[SIMCHA] I'm not sure what kind of healing...

...my new Yemenite friend has in mind.

I just hope there's no needles involved.

I've had all sorts of weird things.

What have I had? My head is spinning.

My nose is running.

Your nose? We'll fix it.

It's special herbs. To fix your nose.

You want me to stick this in my nose?

Inside. -Inside, yeah.

Now breathe inside deeply.

Out.

No, you make it wrong.

This inside your nose.

This, too?

No, the other one. You feel much better?

I feel great.

No, you look beautiful.

I'd rather look handsome.

Handsome, yeah, you're right.

Now you feel your face again. You feel fresh?

It now certainly feels wet.

You know how old I am?

By the way, its have to close you like this.

Is this the final part?

All my treatment it comes from voice of dreams.

You hear voices in your dreams?

How do you feel?

I feel great. Thank you.

[SIMCHA] You definately wont get that...

...at your local supermarket.

Come again! Any time.

[SIMCHA] It's now time to head back to Tova and get cooking.

I'm back with Tova for my hands-on,

Biblical cooking lesson.

This is living archaeology.

You could taste the archaeology.

This is naked archeology.

-This is naked archeology!

Instead of just digging things up,

you're bring them back to life, right?

Yeah that's what I'm doing.

[SIMCHA] Tova is going to teach me...

...how to make a dish with all biblical ingredients.

And the fava beans have...

...been mentioned in the Bible a few times.

The fava bean is mentioned in the Bible?

Really? In what context?

Ezekiel.

Really? He ate fava beans?

He ate a bread made of fava beans with barley.

[SIMCHA] The Bible tells us that...

...God commands Ezekiel to lay down...

...upon one side for over a year...

...so he can atone all the sins of his people.

It's kind'a like an extended "time-out."

Among the foods that God instructs Ezekiel to eat...

...is a tasty bread made of wheat, barley and fava beans.

What Tova forgot to mention...

...is that God also orders this bread to be cooked...

...with cow's dung.

I don't think I'll remind her.

You eat fava beans, you get a little bit of prophecy?

No, I don't think so.

What is this recipe?

What are we going to do with this?

We are going to cook the fava beans.

We are going to pour hot water.

Poor or pour? -Pour.

We're going to pour, because they were poor.

I'm not making fun.

My accent. I have an Israeli accent.

It's very adorable. -Yeah, sure.

[SIMCHA] This hummus-like dish...

...is made with fava beans, bulgar, garlic,

mint, and of course, olive oil.

This is the olive oil you pressed.

This is the olive oil I made?

A lot of oil. Are you sure?

Exactly the same.

I can get into this biblical cooking.

The dish is ready.

This looks biblical. I'm sorry, this looks biblical.

It looks like somebody ate it already.

Don't say that.

It looks like somebody ate it already!

Ok, maybe we'll mix it.

I like it like that.

You like it like that?

I like it like that.

Why don't you taste it first?

Oh, it's good. I want you to taste it.

Mmm. This is my new favourite. It's delicious.

What you've done is detective work.

Taken Aramaic sources, Roman sources,

Biblical sources, Rabbinic sources...

...and you've brought this to life.

This hasn't been made this way for years.

That's right.

Well, you've made history tasty.

[SIMCHA] Now that we've made history,

Tova is going to share one last recipe...

...she's uncovered from the bible.

In the book, the "Song of Songs"

there's a food for the young in love girl.

She ask for Ashishot,

the girl in the "Song of Songs"

But nobody knows what is Ashishot.

Exactly.

You figured it out what the Ashishot were?

Yeah.

Lentils, give him lentils that been grind and toasted.

Toasted ground lentils.

Toasted ground lentils, fried with honey.

A recipe! -Yeah!

So I tried- A recipe.

You put the pieces of the puzzle together...

...and you realized that this thing called Ashishot...

...in the beautiful Song of Songs is food.

First you realize it's lentils...

...and then you realize that it is pancakes.

Wow, so it's lovers' food.

It's lovers' food.

It's like chocolate. It's sugar.

So this is virility food. -Simcha-

[SIMCHA] I've been tipped off.

Apparently some Biblical cows have been spotted nearby.

This is my last chance to see these mysterious creatures.

Where are the cows?

Biblical cows?

Biblical cows aren't like other cows.

They're smaller, they're thinner, they're healthier.

They last longer.

And they're almost extinct. We found 'em.

Okay this is the hunt for the biblical cows.

There's only a hundred of them left in the world.

We found the cows.

There are, the Biblical cows.

If you get too close to them, they run away.

Looks like they're going to run away anyway.

They don't look like other cows.

There's only a hundred of these cows left in the word.

And when the bible talks about cows,

they're talking about those guys.

It's where the Bible meets McDonalds.

Okay, the biblical cows seem to have escaped us,

but you saw them.

Archaeology come to life.

I gave them the mating call but they didn't listen.

They ran away. It's happened before.

But I feel good. I found them.

My hair look okay?

You like nice.

What I need is a special recipe to take home.

Okay.

I have the recipe, in Hebrew.

But it doesn't matter.

I don't know, I'd like to learn how to make those pancakes.

A biblical meal for my family.

That's nice.

And I can involve the whole family...

...with tasks for different kids?

Yeah. -I love it.

Guys, kids. I'm coming home.

Daddy's learned to cook. Biblical food time.

[SIMCHA] I feel like I've traveled back in time.

I've held , year old bones,

smelled the ash of a , year old stove,

gathered the foods named in the Bible,

I worked a water-wheel and olive press.

I even helped resurrect a long lost recipe.

Now to bring back to Canada all that I've learned.

Time to cook a biblical dish with my family.

Ha-ha, there's my biblical food.

Hey you lucky guys.

Daddy went shopping in Israel.

Wow, look at that.

That's peppers.

Okay you guys.

We're ready to make a biblical meal.

This is what Adam and Eve must have eaten...

...in the Garden of Eden.

I don't know if they had the hot and sour sauce.

Doesn't that look gorgeous?

It doesn't look gorgeous?

Are you working with me, or against me, here?

I don't know?

Time for Love Pancakes.

Hey.

It's a very bad idea to put your hand on that.

I went to Tova and she told me in the "Song of Songs",

it says "sustain me with Ashishot."

Do you know what an Ashishot is?

No, Simcha, I have no idea what an Ashishot is.

Do you have an idea of what an Ashishot is?

Nava? Yosefa? Yadin?

OK. Nobody else had an idea.

Guess what it is?

I got the receipe for Ashishot!

These are love pancakes!

And they figured out the recipe.

This is a real biblical food.

One cup of red lentils. Okay, now pour it in.

Okay, here comes Yadin.

[food blender running]

We're smushing around all the lentils!

Why are you screaming?

We substituted green lentils for red lentils.

Red lentils are softer. Green lentils are harder.

This is stressing me out.

Pour it in.

Guys one at a time.

Let's show how we cooperate.

Who's fighting with who?

It's my turn.

You know what happens if I take some honey...

...and pour it on your nose?

We're making small patties from this lentil and sesame.

What kind of patties?

These are love patties.

[SIMCHA] See my beautiful flips, Nicole.

I'm falling in love just smelling the aroma.

This is really awesome.

Okay this one's getting b*rned.

Oh, they're alive.

[NICOLE] We have to pour the honey while it's hot still.

It says in proverbs,

"honey, sweet for the soul, and also good for the bones."

[SIMCHA] Pour it all over!

This is the first time that this biblical food...

...was made by a group effort in thousands of years.

That's not a joke.

We're going to eat that bible.

Who's going to be the first one to taste it?

Me, me, me.

[SIMCHA] Shouldn't it be Daddy?

Yeah. I don't know.

I put a bit more honey on it.

It requires a lot of honey.

For a lot of people, archaeology is something in the ground.

Something dead.

But you go to these places and it's alive.

To actually go in there,

pull the stuff out, and bring it over here...

...and bring it back to life is awesome.

It transports us back to a different time.

It's not so bad.

I like it. It's delicious.