title: What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat?: Diet in Biblical Times
author:  Nathan MacDonald 
description: I heartily recommend it for three big reasons: a very readable book, careful in method and approach, and judicious in conclusion. There is nothing simplistic and grandiose about this book.<br /> --Prof. Scot McKnight, North Park University, Chicago<br /><br />This book offers a veritable cornucopia of information to its readers. It is well researched, broadly synthetic, and distills a vast array of data...It is a pleasure to read, and a joy to recommend.<br /> --Jeremy Hutton, Princeton Seminary<br /><br />MacDonald's book is a joy to read...It is a useful book, handy for students, scholars, and anyone interested in life in ancient periods, including the lives of the Israelites.'<br /> --Raz Kletter, Helsinki University<br /><br />It's not my intention to sound overly enthusiastic lest you think me to be exaggerating. But it isn't hyperbole to say that this is one of the most enjoyable and interesting books I've read in a good while.<br /> --Jim West, Quartz School of Theology<br /><br />The book would be an excellent catalyst for discussion of contemporary ethical concerns about food, such as its radically uneven availability, food safety and cost, and ecological problems of production. --Kathlyn O'Conner, Columbia TS
zlib_text: CHAPTER 3
  The Design of Clinical Trials
  Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs
  had appointed over Daniel, Hanani’ah, Mish’a-el, and Azari’ah,
  ‘Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat
  and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance
  of the youths who eat the king’s rich food be observed by you, and
  according to what you see deal with your servants.’ So he hearkened
  to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of
  ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter
  in ﬂesh than all the youths who ate the king’s rich food. So the
  steward took away their rich food and the wine they were to drink,
  and gave them vegetables.
  –Daniel 1: 11-16.
  3.1
  Introduction
  It has been suggested that the biblical dietary comparison introduc-
  ing the chapter is the ﬁrst clinical trial in recorded history, and its
  designer, Daniel, the ﬁrst trialist (Fisher, 1983). In this chapter we
  will discuss important eleme