of King Henry's Table

Recently my beloved and I watched a series of cooking shows by Heston Blumenthal, in which he recreated the recipes of different times in history. One episode is set in the England of Henry VIII: the king famous for having six wives and taking England out of the Roman Catholic Church. Drawing on the cook-books of the period, Heston’s culinary skills ran wild, recreating outlandish dishes combining art and opulence to a height not seen before in ‘Merry Olde Englande’. All sorts of meats, sweet dishes, pastries and ales formed the backbone to a daily feast ‘fit for a king’. 

What was fascinating was how bad the diet of the wealthy was, compared to the poor. The poor ate vegetables, and simple stews. They had no sugar. The wealthy scorned vegetables and gorged on sweet food. The result: although it was definitely no easy life, the diet of the average peasant was actually far healthier than that of the aristocracy: there’s an irony in there somewhere!

This made me think of the old saying “You are what you eat!” and that had me thinking about our spiritual diet. Our modern Western has never had so much variety of things to ‘chew on’, spiritually speaking. Television, cell-phones, the internet: all provide a never-ending ‘diet’ of food for the soul. 

The challenge is to work out what is best for us, and to ‘chew’ on that. The Tudor aristocracy despised the humble vegetable, to their detriment; how many of us overlook the basic in pursuit of the exotic.

We are what we eat. Why not set aside games, reality shows, self-help sites, pornography; let’s instead enjoy worship music, nourishing on-line sermons, and interviews with real heroes (such as +nick vujicic : look him up – now that’s a story worth Googling). ‘Desperate Housewives’ getting you down? Sample ‘Bethel tv’ instead. Missed your favourite ‘Survivor Outback’ show? In its place, podcast +Andy Stanley, or +Joyce Meyer Ministries. Let’s really care for ourselves.

But wait: there’s more! What about the infomercials? The ‘Five+ a day’ rule: why not make it both five vegetables/ fruit and five chapters of scripture? Within 30 days I guarantee you’ll be healthier than you have ever been – or your money back...