THE TASTE OF HEAVEN The German philosopher Feuerbach thought
that he had put an end to all religious and ideological
speculations about human nature when he said: "Man is what he
eats". In fact, without realising it he was saying something
profoundly theological. Long before Feuerbach this same
definition of man was given in the first book of the Bible. ln
the very first chapter of Genesis, man is presented as a hungry
being. God provides the world as a foodstore for the crown of
His Creation. "Behold I have given you every herb-bearing seed …
every tree, which is the fruit of a tree-yielding seed. To you
it shall be for meat … Man is a physical and a spiritual being.
Men and women must eat in order to live. They must take that
which is given and provided into their bodies and transform it
into their flesh and blood. Man is indeed what he eats, and the
world is the banquet table. This image of the banquet is one
that occurs throughout the pages of the Bible reaching its
fulfilment in the New Testament when th