Not By Bread Alone

September 18th, 2008

Sometimes I see it sitting on the shelf and other times it’s in the freezer section. I’m talking about The Original Ezekiel 4:9 Bread. The bag says it’s Organic Sprouted 100% Whole Grain and the motto is “sprouted for life”. There is a lot to read on this bread’s bag including the fact that it’s 100% flourless and it’s made by the Rainier Organic Bakery. The Fresh Taste of the Great Northwest, since 1945. That’s a lot of information but let me bring it down to a very simple fact that means something to Bob. I like the way it tastes.

I have been a big (and I mean that in every sense) fiber enthusiast for quite a few years. When companies started processing the fiber out of our grains in an effort to increase the shelf life of the product they began to rob us of important nutrients. The key word in that sentence is “product” because in almost every instance the process of altering the foods has happened because some company wanted to extend the shelf life of their product. That is when the foods quit being foods and became “products”. White flour will keep for a longer period of time than whole grain flour. White flour doesn’t die as soon because processing the fiber out of it has the same effect as killing it. The manufacturers killed it so it wouldn’t die. I love food but am quite skeptical of “products”.

My short lecture on fiber follows. White bread and pasta as well as other over processed and over refined foods have caused us to miss out on the fiber that our bodies desperately need. One result of this deficiency is the rise of colon cancer in the American population. Without going into too many details let me just say that we need fiber to keep us clean and regular. Everyone who is fifty years old or more needs to see their doctor about having a colonoscopy. If you haven’t had one, go see your doctor. Enough said.

By eating foods with substantial amounts of fiber we can all keep our colons clean and our bodies healthy.

In addition to that, whole grain bread just tastes better.

I am one of those people who read ingredients on the labels of food in the grocery store. I want to know how much sugar is in the food I buy. I want to know how much fiber, fat and cholesterol is in the bread and other “products” I consume. I guess I just like being the one who makes my choices, even if they are not always the best ones.

This bread has half a gram of fat, 90 calories and 6 grams of fiber in each slice. I think the USDA guidelines say that we should all be getting about 25 grams of fiber a day. Whenever I eat a fried egg or peanut butter sandwich made with this stuff, I am fulfilling almost half of that daily recommended requirement. Of course there are many other places to get substantial amounts of fiber. Fruits and vegetables have some. Beans and brown rice are also good sources. If you have questions about the actual amounts do what most other intelligent internet users do and Google it. Come on people. You are sitting in front of the most powerful learning tool that the world has ever known but it won’t do you any good if you don’t get out there and make it work for you.

Whole grain breads and other foods with substantial amounts of fiber can be found almost everywhere in the United States. I do the grocery shopping in my family so when my wife and I relocated to the beautiful Pacific Northwest I was looking for a whole grain bread that was made somewhere near our home. Eating locally is another one of my interests and I will have more to say about that in the future. The bright orange packaging of this bread caught my eye and while I was examining the information on the bag I could not help but be drawn to the name. Ezekiel 4:9. Wow, an Old Testament reference. I love the Old Testament. What great stories. What fantastic moral directions. What confusing, maddening and contradictory advice. I love those books.

I want to make it clear that I understand that it is more correct to refer to that collection of books that begins with Genesis as the Jewish Bible, not the Old Testament. Many people today do not think it proper to call it that because it could be construed as demeaning to the Jewish people as they regard it as their Bible in whole. They do not consider the so called New Testament as scripture from God. What Christians refer to as the Old Testament is to them the whole Testament. Most Christian people feel the same way about the Koran. For them the Bible is whole and complete with the Old and New Testaments while Islamic believers include the Old and New Testaments as well as the Koran. Many characters in the Old and New Testament including Abraham, Moses and even Jesus also appear in the Koran. Just as the Jewish people believe the revelations of God ended with the Old Testament, Christian believers feel that it ended with the New Testament. That is of course unless you are a Mormon and believe that the Book of Mormon is a continuation of divine revelation. It can certainly be confusing, can’t it?

I was raised in the Christian tradition so I still think of the Bible as being composed of the Old and the New Testament however I do not think that one collection of revelations outweighs another and I would not want to offend my friends of the Jewish faith. I mean no disrespect to them or to any practicing Muslim or Mormon believers. It’s a rough world out there. Hold on to what faith you can and God be with you. OK.

There have been many English translations of the Bible. There are also many opinions about which ones are more accurate, which ones are the easiest to understand and which ones are more beautiful or poetic. Once again, I find myself returning to what I was raised on. That does not mean that everyone should read the version I read or that my choice is the right one. I am just a little bit tired of everyone telling all of us what the right choices are. It is an election year (or should I say decade; it’s gone on so long). I read the much maligned King James Version because that’s the Bible my mom and dad got me for Christmas when I was eight years old and that’s the version that was read in the church I grew up in and I love the language. It is the English of Shakespeare’s time and I place great importance on poetry. Once again, I get to choose.

As soon as I got the first loaf of bread home I pulled out my King James and looked up the quote the bread was named for. Here it is

“Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.”

Wow! A recipe for bread from the Bible. How cool is that?

I checked the side of the bag for the ingredients and I saw that it had everything listed from this passage in Ezekiel in sprouted form. That explained why they said it was flourless. It was all there except for one item. Where were the fitches and for that matter why would a recipe call for birds in a loaf of bread? Was this like the four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie? Reading the Bible is always an adventure. I just love it.

Wait a minute. What was that you said honey? Oops. My wife just screamed at me from the other room where she was proof reading this post and said, “What the heck’s the matter with you? It says fitches…not finches.” Oops. Ok. Never mind about the blackbirds in the pie.

So just what is a fitch? Fortunately there was a footnote in my Bible that said that “fitches” meant rye. That made a lot more sense to me but I have to admit that rye was not listed in the ingredients. I decided it was my turn to take my own advice and just Google the darn thing. I found two different explanations. One said fitch was a spice called black cummin. Another source said that it had been misinterpreted as rye but really meant spelt.

I should explain here that I am not one of those people who claims to take the whole Bible as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do not believe in what I think is referred to as a literal interpretation of the Bible. I will not go there right now but suffice it to say that I think you are causing yourself a great deal of unnecessary trouble by trying to believe that and somehow live your life that way. I know many would argue with me about this but I just can’t go there and will not go there at this time. The good news for me is that because I do not believe in interpreting the Bible in that strict (and impossible) manner, I can forgive the Rainier Organic Bakery for leaving out the rye. However, if the interpretation of rye is incorrect and it should be spelt, then everything is cool. Sprouted spelt is listed as an ingredient so I guess they have been diligent in following the biblical directive. I’m still more impressed by the fact that the bread tastes great.

If you live in the area where this bread is distributed you need to check out this great tasting food source. Their web site is at www.rainierorganicbakery.com and they have a whole line of great foods for sale. I have tried the Raisin Cinnamon and love it as well. I also just visited the site and discovered they have a new bread named for the infamous Sasquatch that is widely accepted as living in the Pacific Northwest. That is the truth.

Finding local bread made from a Biblical recipe has inspired me to look for more spiritual food products that come from this beautiful area of the country. Washington State is quickly becoming world renown for the excellent wines that are produced here and my new goal is to find one that has been made in the manner that Jesus used at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. I wonder if any of the local vintners have ever read Chapter 2 of the Gospel of John.

Entry Filed under: Creationism and Evolution in Sandwich Making, General