Ordinary Ingredients
The Sacred and Earthly Simplicity of Ordinary Ingredients
From ancient empires to modern-day kitchens, certain ingredients have accompanied humankind across centuries, cultures, and spiritual traditions. Salt, turmeric, ginger, garlic, pepper, onion, potato, wheat, and rice—these are not just staples; they're living artifacts. They bear the weight of history, the aroma of survival, the fires of commerce, and even the whispers of the divine. Their authenticity isn't just in their physical state—it's in what they've stood for to humans over thousands of years.
Take salt. Beyond being something to season your food, salt in the past dictated city heights and depths. The Roman legionnaire was paid in it, and roads were paved just to haul it around. Salt in the Bible had been covenant and purity. "You are the salt of the earth," Jesus said, requiring that our life be to season and verify the world. Salt's power isn't just in taste—but in preservation. Before refrigeration, salt-cured meats, fish, and vegetables kept humans fed in winter and famine. Salt is still used today in preserving pickles, jerky, sauerkraut, and kimchi. In the kitchen, it adds depth to everything—from simple salted boiled potatoes to intensely brined meat for roasts, stews, and barbecue.
Turmeric, the "golden root," has been used in South Asia for thousands of years. Traditional medicine and Ayurveda both place great value on turmeric as a symbol of ritual purity and healing. While not mentioned specifically in the Bible, its healing qualities recall biblical themes of restoration. Used in curries, teas, and marinades, turmeric mediates between food and health, as a reminder that what we eat is part of how we heal. It brings heat and color to dishes like golden rice, lentil dal, turmeric-roasted vegetables, and even hip golden milk—a spiced, nourishing drink that has anti-inflammatory properties.
Ginger has long been a wanderer's friend, relieving nausea and soothing the body. Its strong spice brings light and vitality to anything from stews to cookies. Although not referred to in the Bible, its application of roots and herbs to heal is amply recorded in scriptures like Ezekiel 47:12. The omnipresence of ginger in global cuisine is a testament to its potency—warming, genuine, and down-to-earth. It plays the starring role in such dishes as ginger chicken stir-fry, honey-ginger salmon, gingerbread, and spicy chai. It's typically brewed in teas or minced and included in dressings as a pungent flavor.
And garlic, humble, pungent bulb. Ancient Egyptians provided garlic to pyramid laborers in order to create endurance. The Israelites recall consuming garlic in Egypt (Numbers 11:5) during their servitude days according to the Bible. That memory, though couched in protest, displays garlic as one of their beginning staples for nutrition. Currently, garlic's scope—from roasted cloves to chopped raw slivers—positions it as a kitchen staple. It occurs in garlic butter shrimp, garlic confit, aioli, garlic naan, and pasta aglio e olio. It is the basis of untold sauces, soups, and broths.
Pepper, "black gold," has motivated adventurers to sail across seas. Though not named in Scripture, its luxury spice reputation is similar to that of incense and aromatic resins used in worship and trade. Cracked fresh over a meal, black pepper brings warmth and balance—a testament to the fact that anything small can be so potent. In the kitchen, pepper is unbeatable with dishes like cacio e pepe (the Roman pasta made from nothing more than cheese and pepper), pepper steak, peppercorn sauce creamed over meats, and even spiced desserts like peppered strawberries or dark chocolate bark flavored with cracked pepper and sea salt.
Onions, found in the tombs of pharaohs, are pungent and sweet. Also mentioned in Numbers 11:5, onions evoke profound human cravings—not just for taste, but for familiarity. They're the basis of the world's countless recipes. Raw, sautéed, or caramelized, onions bring depth. They burn the eyes, but satisfy the tongue—raw, pure, and irreplaceable. Onions form the foundation of French onion soup, biryani, onion rings, stews, salsas, and curries. A simple onion sauté can form the center of a pasta sauce or begin a hearty soup.
Potatoes are relatively recent in world history relative to the earlier ingredients. Originating in the Andes and the focal point of Inca survival, potatoes migrated to Europe and changed agriculture. Where absent in the scriptures, their sense is deeply spiritual. They sustain poor and wealthy. Mashed, fried, or baked, potato is a testimony to frugality and sufficiency—took from earth, it feeds millions. One-time dishes such as shepherd's pie, gnocchi, potato curry, rösti, and Spanish tortilla demonstrate potato's use and cross-cultural versatility.
Wheat is probably the most scripture-enriched of all. From the fields of the past to Jesus' parables, wheat is the icon of life, death, and resurrection. "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone," Jesus taught (John 12:24). Wheat is turned into bread, the "staff of life," and in Christian tradition, an icon of Christ himself. Ground, kneaded, risen, and broken—wheat is sustenance and metaphor. It is the essence of flatbreads, sourdough bread, pastas, chapatis, pancakes, and couscous—sustaining nations with its unobtrusive influence.
Lastly, rice—a dietary mainstay for more than half the world's population—is sustenance personified. Though missing from ancient Near Eastern society and the Bible, rice fits the biblical ethos: daily manna, harvest, and fellowship meals. Steamed, fried, or fermented, rice speaks of togetherness and sustenance, family tables and world unity. Foods like risotto, pilaf, sushi, bibimbap, and rice pudding work to expose rice's chameleon-like quality: it adapts, absorbs, and fulfills.
These are more than ingredients we cook with—old companions. They are touchable: you can feel them, smell them, grow them. They don't start in factories or in code, but in soil, sweat, seed, and season. They connect us to our heritage and to one another. With each sprinkle of salt, each chopping onion, each grain of rice—there is memory, there is meaning, there is life.
So the next time you're cooking a meal, take a moment. Look at what you're holding in your hand. You're not merely cooking—you're handling history, bearing faith, and participating in something true