Endless Summer


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Sumac tree (Credit: Melissa Finkelstein)

Pope Benedict XVI got into a little trouble recently with his book about the historical details of Jesus’ birth, and had to explain himself when a rumor started floating around that he’d essentially “cancelled Christmas.” (Someone tell Fox News!) The latter-day holiday traditions that have developed around the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth, he assured Catholics, somewhat sheepishly, are still a vital and worthy part of the Christian commemoration of their founder’s birth.

Still, since the Pope himself brought it up, it was hard for us not to think about what that day in Bethlehem was really like–especially when it came to the food.

You can bet there wasn’t any turkey (New World animal) or ham (not kosher), that there wasn’t a fruitcake (which existed, in a form, but would be unrecognizable to us as the immortal holiday “treat” we know today), and that all the rest–Santa cookies, plum puddings, bûche de Noël, hot cocoa, eggnog, wassail, candy canes, trifles, marzipan, cranberry sauce, etc.–weren’t even remotely imaginable to Mary, Joseph, and their guests in the manger.

So to get an idea what the first Christmas dinner actually might have looked and tasted like, we asked Laura Kelley, author of The Silk Road Gourmet, to take us on a culinary tour of that night.
Now, a little depends on when the first Christmas actually took place–institutional Christianity didn’t start gelling on Dec. 25 as the date until the mid-4th century. Other guesses have been all over the calendar. Kelley chose early autumn, working on the assumption that Jesus was born around the feast of Sukkot around the year 6 B.C. (most researchers place the actual birth year between 7 B.C. and 2 B.C.; Pope Benedict XVI says it was probably a few years before King Herod’s death in 4 B.C.). Even if it had been winter, Bethlehem was known for its mild seasons, so that doesn’t make as much difference as you might fear.

Kelley also sides with scholars who discount the idea that Joseph and Mary tried to stay at an inn that night, considering the culture of the time. She believes they probably stayed with distant relatives, and may have spent the night in a sheltered area off the central courtyard, used for prized animals in inclement weather. (Pope Benedict XVI thinks it was probably a cave.)

You should probably also jettison the vision of an Ur-Lamaze-trained nuclear family lovingly preening together over the future Savior of All Human Souls. It wasn’t The Little Drummer Boy–Jewish tradition probably meant that while Mary was in the manger with a midwife or female relatives, popping out J.C., Joseph was inside the actual house, toasting the wailing proof of his manliness with wine.

But let’s say for the sake of this post that they went all out, feeling that somehow this birth was special, and put on a feast for the birth of this new Jesus kid: the first Christmas ever.

Well, first off, Joseph and Mary were poor. We know this because of the sacrifice Joseph brought to the temple after Jesus’s birth–doves rather than lamb. So it’s a fair guess they couldn’t afford to slaughter oxen or even a lamb for dinner that night. This was going to be the Biblical version of a Walmart supper.

Second, the service was buffet-style, if “buffet-style” could be stretched to mean everyone ate directly from the buffet. Like in many parts of the world today, everyone chowed down from communal plates, eating with their hands. Guests probably ate lying on their sides on the floor around a mat on which sat the bowls and plates of food. No chairs or tables.

And you know what else would most likely be missing?


According to religious purity laws, she was still “unclean” a week after giving birth to Jesus. Female relatives would put together a little plate for her to eat from in the manger or wherever she was recovering.

What was there was fruit–grapes, figs, pomegranates–and olives, which were an essential part of even lower-class meals in Israel back in the day. Along with the fruit, the men and participating women of the household may have had a multigrain bread to start–either flat bread or sourdough made with wheat, barley, millet, etc.–served with za’atar (a spice mixture popular to this day that includes an oregano-like herb, sumac, sesame seeds), olives, and lentils or fava beans. The wine–a retsina-like beverage flavored with figs or rosemary–would already be flowing.

The main dish might be roasted fish–the most commonly eaten meat there at the time–or a roasted pigeon or dove basted with honey or pomegranate syrup. Alongside that would be condiments like garum (then a nearly universally known fermented fish paste, akin to Southeast Asian fish sauce), a little dish of salt, and citron or rose-petal jam. The starch would probably be something like roasted barley or millet.

And then for dessert? More fruit. Dates, apricots, raisins, and bread slathered in charoset (a sweet fruit-and-nut paste still served at Passover Seders today). The dates may have been pounded and rolled in pistachios, or the raisins may have come in the form of a sweet raisin-y wine meant to cleanse the palate and let guests know it was time to begin the good-byes. The men might have lingered over herbal tea made with the honey of imported Anatolian bees “fed on citrus blossoms and wild desert flowers,” Kelley says. Then it would definitely be time to call it a night.

But what would Jesus eat? Well, mother’s milk, technically, since he was a newborn. So, yes, that headline is a little misleading. But you’re not going to convince anyone to go in for that for Christmas dinner.

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