The marvelous food depicted in these two panels of Late Gothic
German stained glass may have been of vegetable origin. Left:
Gathering Manna. Moses, holding the staff received from God on
Mount Sinai, presides over the gathering of a miraculous fall of
quail and manna from heaven. Right: Storing up Manna. Two men
bear a large wooden tub of manna into a tent; a third man
carries a great basketful in his arms. The identification of
Biblical plants has occupied investigators for centuries; the
identity of manna is one of the most intriguing and most debated
of ethnobotanical mysteries, although some interpreters have
suggested that the substance is of insect rather than vegetable
origin. Read more »