Here are 100 books that What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? Diet in Biblical Times fans have personally recommended if you like What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat? Diet in Biblical Times. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Women's Lives in Biblical Times

Oded Borowski Author Of Daily Life in Biblical Times

From my list on life in biblical times.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an archaeologist for over 50 years, I specialized in Household Archaeology, the branch of archaeology that investigates daily life. I was born and spent my childhood in British Mandatorial Palestine and then grew up to adulthood in Israel after it was founded. I spent many years as a kibbutz member in the Northern Negev living near the Bedouin. These experiences brought me close to pre-industrial societies. All my life I was surrounded by archaeological sites, taught biblical archaeology for over 40 years in college and wrote several books and articles on subjects related to daily life in biblical times.

Oded's book list on life in biblical times

Oded Borowski Why Oded loves this book

Women played an important role in daily life of biblical Israel, but not much has been written about them. This book uses a fictional character to describe the lifecycle events and daily life activities experienced by girls and women in ancient Israel using archaeological, iconographic, and ethnographic information. Each chapter is devoted to a major event in the life of the character, from birth to death, describing in a story-telling manner how women coped, focusing on the specific events, customs, crafts, technologies, and other activities in which an Israelite female would have participated on a daily basis.

By Jennie R. Ebeling ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Women's Lives in Biblical Times as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This volume describes the lifecycle events and daily life activities experienced by girls and women in ancient Israel examining recent biblical scholarship and other textual evidence from the ancient Near East and Egypt including archaeological, iconographic and ethnographic data. From this Ebeling creates a detailed, accessible description of the lives of women living in the central highland villages of Iron Age I (ca. 1200-1000 BCE) Israel. The book opens with an introduction that provides a brief historical survey of Iron Age (ca. 1200-586 BCE) Israel, a discussion of the problems involved in using the Hebrew Bible as a source, a…


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Life in Biblical Israel

Oded Borowski Author Of Daily Life in Biblical Times

From my list on life in biblical times.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an archaeologist for over 50 years, I specialized in Household Archaeology, the branch of archaeology that investigates daily life. I was born and spent my childhood in British Mandatorial Palestine and then grew up to adulthood in Israel after it was founded. I spent many years as a kibbutz member in the Northern Negev living near the Bedouin. These experiences brought me close to pre-industrial societies. All my life I was surrounded by archaeological sites, taught biblical archaeology for over 40 years in college and wrote several books and articles on subjects related to daily life in biblical times.

Oded's book list on life in biblical times

Oded Borowski Why Oded loves this book

This volume, with over 175 full-color pictures and illustrations, has the appearance of a coffee table book; however, its content is based on the latest research, and presents a vivid description of the world of Ancient Israel, covering many topics such as domestic life, the economy, cultural expression, and religious practices. 

By Philip J. King , Lawrence E. Stager ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Life in Biblical Israel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This special-edition volume of the Library of Ancient Israel, based on the latest research, presents a vivid description of the world of Ancient Israel, covering such topics as domestic life, the means of existence, cultural expression, and religious practices. With over 175 full-color pictures and illustrations, Life in Biblical Israel opens the door to everyday life in biblical Israel for all readers. This volume is perfect for classrooms, coffee tables, and personal use.

Volumes in the Library of Ancient Israel draw on multiple disciplines--such as archaeology, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, and literary criticism--to illuminate the everyday realities and social subtleties these…


Book cover of Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel

Oded Borowski Author Of Daily Life in Biblical Times

From my list on life in biblical times.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an archaeologist for over 50 years, I specialized in Household Archaeology, the branch of archaeology that investigates daily life. I was born and spent my childhood in British Mandatorial Palestine and then grew up to adulthood in Israel after it was founded. I spent many years as a kibbutz member in the Northern Negev living near the Bedouin. These experiences brought me close to pre-industrial societies. All my life I was surrounded by archaeological sites, taught biblical archaeology for over 40 years in college and wrote several books and articles on subjects related to daily life in biblical times.

Oded's book list on life in biblical times

Oded Borowski Why Oded loves this book

William (Bill) Dever is a well-known archaeologist who influenced the field of biblical archaeology through his fieldwork, scholarly publications, and public presentations. He has become known to the lay public through his many popular publications one of which relates to the question of whether the Israelite God had a wife. This is an intriguing question since there is archaeological evidence to suggest it. This book is good for readers interested in daily life, gender questions, and religion in biblical times.

By William G. Dever ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Following up on his two recent, widely acclaimed studies of ancient Israelite history and society, William Dever here reconstructs the practice of religion in ancient Israel from the bottom up. Archaeological excavations reveal numerous local and family shrines where sacrifices and other rituals were carried out. Intrigued by this "folk religion" in all its variety and vitality, Dever writes about ordinary people in ancient Israel and their everyday religious lives.

Did God Have a Wife? shines new light on the presence and influence of women's cults in early Israel and their implications for our understanding of Israel's official "Book religion."…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel

Oded Borowski Author Of Daily Life in Biblical Times

From my list on life in biblical times.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an archaeologist for over 50 years, I specialized in Household Archaeology, the branch of archaeology that investigates daily life. I was born and spent my childhood in British Mandatorial Palestine and then grew up to adulthood in Israel after it was founded. I spent many years as a kibbutz member in the Northern Negev living near the Bedouin. These experiences brought me close to pre-industrial societies. All my life I was surrounded by archaeological sites, taught biblical archaeology for over 40 years in college and wrote several books and articles on subjects related to daily life in biblical times.

Oded's book list on life in biblical times

Oded Borowski Why Oded loves this book

Archaeological evidence suggests very strongly that the ancient Israelites were heavily influenced by the previous inhabitants of Syria-Palestine in many aspects of their life including religion and help to identify the integral part that religion played in the social and political worlds of the Israelites and Canaanites. The author examines current anthropological and sociological theories and compares them to ancient materials excavated over the past eighty years, then offers a new way of looking at the archaeological data suggesting the strong relations between archaeological remains from the Middle Bronze Age (Canaanites) to the Iron Age (Israelites).

By Beth Alpert Nakhai ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Archaeology and the Religions of Canaan and Israel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book seeks to demonstrate that archaeological data can provide a strong and independent witness to the religious practices of the ancient inhabitants of Syria-Palestine and help to identify the integral part that religion played in the social and political worlds of the Israelites and Canaanites. By applying current anthropological and sociological theory to ancient materials excavated over the past eighty years, the author offers a new way of looking at the archaeological data. Beth Alpert Nakhai summarises and analyses the archaeological remains from all known Middle Bronze Age through Iron Age temples, sanctuaries, and open-air shrines to reveal the…


Book cover of On Food and Cooking

Alex Maltman Author Of Vineyards, Rocks, and Soils: The Wine Lover's Guide to Geology

From my list on food and drink that will nourish your mind.

Why am I passionate about this?

It’s now fifty years or so since I started growing my own fruit and vegetables so as to have the freshest, best quality ingredients for my home cooking and making my own wine and beer. But I was always asking myself why things were done in a certain way: what was the science behind what was going on? I’ve always loved science for its own sake, but I believe such knowledge enhances appreciation. That’s why, when today’s new interest in vineyard geology took off, I put together my own book on that subject, and it’s why I’m enlightened by the books I list here.

Alex's book list on food and drink that will nourish your mind

Alex Maltman Why Alex loves this book

Twenty years old and still the Bible for me. It’s all here. I used to wonder why we did things in the kitchen in a certain way, but now I know. The author doesn’t flinch from the hard science and, besides explaining so many things, that enables him to explode a number of common kitchen myths (searing meat doesn’t seal in the juices) and provide lots of practical advice for the home kitchen.

Other supposedly food and science books have come and gone, but McGee remains my go-to source.

By Harold McGee ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked On Food and Cooking as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An updated twentieth-anniversary edition of the classic culinary reference features ninety percent new material and provides a wealth of kitchen tips, food-preparation techniques, folklore, literary anecdotes, and health information, in a volume that features particular coverage of trends from the p


Book cover of The House Plant Expert

Catherine Horwood Author Of Potted History: How Houseplants Took Over Our Homes

From my list on keeping your houseplants alive.

Why am I passionate about this?

I remember my first ever houseplant—doesn’t everyone? It was a spider plant, just a small one grown as an offset from my mother’s vast ‘mother’ plant. Yestwo mothers! The plant and my green-fingered mother got me hooked on houseplants. As a social historian, I’ve written about all things to do with the homeclothes, gardens, even gardeners themselves but houseplants? Why was there no social history of plants in the home? Where did that spider plant come from? And when? The answer is Japan in the late 18th century. But the truth is that plants have been brought into homes for centuries and their stories are fascinating. 

Catherine's book list on keeping your houseplants alive

Catherine Horwood Why Catherine loves this book

It is rumoured that this book has, at times, been the world’s best-selling non-fiction book after The Biblequite a claim. Indisputable is that this book and its many reprints and updates remain for several generations, the one essential read for houseplant help. It was written by a scientist who worked for one of the world’s leading houseplant liquid feed after a radio appearance led to the company receiving thousands of letters asking for houseplant advice. Hessayon’s simple formula of basic photographs and short text has been much copied but never bettered.

By D. G. Hessayon ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The House Plant Expert as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A guide to choosing and caring for indoor plants. This aims to present information on a variety of plants in an easy-to-follow format.


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Book cover of The Duke's Christmas Redemption

The Duke's Christmas Redemption by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.

Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…

Book cover of Megillat Esther

Mat Tonti Author Of The Book of Secrets

From my list on graphic novels about Jewish themes.

Why am I passionate about this?

My love of comics and characters goes back to when I was very young. I remember falling in love with Snoopy to the point that I would draw a snoopy head on my worksheets in first grade, and my teacher knew it was from me! Once I got older, and began exploring my Jewish heritage in a more mature way, I was astounded by how many deep and meaningful stories I kept encountering. It was my natural inclination to retell these stories in a comic book format. Part of my mission was to find like minded souls who had a love for comix and a love for Jewish stories.

Mat's book list on graphic novels about Jewish themes

Mat Tonti Why Mat loves this book

I came across this book while JT was still working on it in the early 2000s. I contacted him much much excitement because I had never met any other contemporary artists who were interested in translating traditional Jewish legends and midrash into a visual form. When it was finally published, I was blown away at how visually rich it was and how it incorporated the traditional Hebrew text of the Scroll of Esther. And it’s not for kids! A true telling of the story of Esther deserves an R-rating at least. And JT does not shy away from the grittier elements of the traditional story.

By JT Waldman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Megillat Esther as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Megillat Esther is commonly referred to as the Book of Esther: but there is nothing common about JT Waldman's interpretation of this Biblical story. In what may be the world's first religious, scholarly comic book, Waldman tells the epic tale of exile and redemption in graphic form.

When Esther, a Jewish woman, is made Queen of Persia she must keep her identity hidden, all the while maneuvering to save her people from annihilation. This is a story familiar to many Jews who have heard it recounted every year on the holiday of Purim. But readers of all backgrounds will be…


Book cover of The Jewish Study Bible

Michael L. Satlow Author Of How the Bible Became Holy

From my list on how to read the Bible.

Why am I passionate about this?

No matter how you read it, the Bible is a strange book. It weaves together beautiful narratives and deadly-dull genealogies; uplifting messages with passages that many today find ethically repulsive. Yet it gained an extraordinary authority, in a predominantly pre-literate society. The question of how this happened has been an intellectual and scholarly preoccupation of mine for decades, and as a professor at Brown University I seek to bring my students and readers into this very foreign world in order to open their eyes to new possibilities in the present.

Michael's book list on how to read the Bible

Michael L. Satlow Why Michael loves this book

I’m going to cheat here and put this book together with two others, The Jewish Annotated New Testament and The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha. Each of these three books has the biblical text; explanatory notes that include scholarly perspectives; and a lengthy set of essays by well-noted scholars. All of these parts of the Bible were written (primarily) by and for Jews in antiquity—including much of the New Testament—and these books seek to recover how they were read and functioned in antiquity.

By Adele Berlin (editor) , Marc Zvi Brettler (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Jewish Study Bible as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

First published in 2004, The Jewish Study Bible is a landmark, one-volume resource tailored especially for the needs of students of the Hebrew Bible. It has won acclaim from readers in all religious traditions.

The Jewish Study Bible combines the entire Hebrew Bible-in the celebrated Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation-with explanatory notes, introductory materials, and essays by leading biblical scholars on virtually every aspect of the text, the world in which it was written, its interpretation, and its role in Jewish life. The quality of scholarship, easy-to-navigate format, and vibrant supplementary features bring the ancient text to life.

This second…


Book cover of The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South

Charles Reagan Wilson Author Of The Southern Way of Life: Meanings of Culture and Civilization in the American South

From my list on savoring Southern foods.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a retired professor who wrote about and taught about the American South for almost four decades. I directed a research center focused on the South, and I helped found an institute dedicated to the study of Southern food. The South’s creative traditions in music and literature are well known, and its foodways are now recognized as a distinct American cuisine that represents the region’s innovations in culture. Through reading about southern food, readers can explore the traditions of eating and cooking in the region, and the creative contributions of ethnic groups with national and global sources. I've chosen books that give flavor to thinking about the South as a distinct place in the imagination.

Charles' book list on savoring Southern foods

Charles Reagan Wilson Why Charles loves this book

This book is a people’s history of the modern south, told through what people in the region have cooked and eaten. 

Edge is my former student who became the founding director of the Southern Food Alliance and the author of more than a dozen books on food.

He tells a story of what the modern South inherited in terms of cooking ingredients, techniques, and traditions, and he shows the central role that cooks and waiters served in the civil rights movement. He is particularly adept at sketching profiles of southern food leaders from Paul Prudhomme to Colonel Sanders.

The book is perhaps best in showing the changes in the southern food scene over the last three centuries so that now southern food has become a shared culinary language for the nation.   

By John T. Edge ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Potlikker Papers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“The one food book you must read this year."
—Southern Living 

One of Christopher Kimball’s Six Favorite Books About Food

A people’s history that reveals how Southerners shaped American culinary identity and how race relations impacted Southern food culture over six revolutionary decades

Like great provincial dishes around the world, potlikker is a salvage food. During the antebellum era, slave owners ate the greens from the pot and set aside the leftover potlikker broth for the enslaved, unaware that the broth, not the greens, was nutrient rich. After slavery, potlikker sustained the working poor, both black and white. In the…


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Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of There's No Ham in Hamburgers: Facts and Folklore about Our Favorite Foods

Mary Boone Author Of Bugs for Breakfast: How Eating Insects Could Help Save the Planet

From my list on food facts.

Why am I passionate about this?

I baked my first loaf of bread when I was eight. It was shaped like a brick and weighed about the same. With my grandma’s help, I tweaked the recipe, learned the importance of precise measurements, practiced my kneading, and ultimately won a blue ribbon for my efforts at the 4-H county fair. In the years since, my passion for food has grown. I love to learn how various crops are grown and harvested, I nearly cried when I tasted cheese I made myself, and I’ve been known to arrange travel around specific culinary adventures. For me, learning about food is nearly as enjoyable as eating it!

Mary's book list on food facts

Mary Boone Why Mary loves this book

I love food and I love history, which is why I adore the way this offbeat book explains the origin stories of some of our favorite foods. Yes, some of the tales are gross. Did you know Genghis Khan’s soldiers put raw meat scraps between their horse and saddle? The friction tenderized the meat and turned it into an early version of ground meat patties – seasoned, of course, with horse sweat! Readers who love knowing the facts behind their food will enjoy learning about the beginnings of peanut butter, french fries, hot dogs, and much more.  

By Kim Zachman , Peter Donnelly (illustrator) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked There's No Ham in Hamburgers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Why is there no ham in hamburgers? How did we make ice cream before we could make ice? How did hot dogs get their name? From the origins of pizza (which got a big boost from Clarence Birdseye, of all people) to the Cornell professor who invented chicken fingers, There's No Ham in Hamburgers has all the ingredients for an entertaining and educational middle-grade read. Packed with informative sidebars, recipes, and experiments, along with fabulously funny illustrations by Peter Donnelly, this book is a reading recipe that kids will sink their teeth into!


Book cover of Women's Lives in Biblical Times
Book cover of Life in Biblical Israel
Book cover of Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel

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