# Why did John the Baptist eat locusts? They're not kosher! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 13, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277 "2008-03-13T20:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/81 "2012-07-16T21:16:34Z")
I reread the thread. Some thoughts: > [@Terrifel](#): > > Sure, John the Baptist may lived in the desert, dressed in camel’s hair and believed that sin was water-soluble; but never let it be said that he failed to honor the sacred bug-eating traditions handed down from ancient Hebrews who couldn’t count to six. If there are six, there are four? Read it as “at least four”? > [@Terrifel](#): > > It breaks my heart to think of all the little Levite children who brought their own lunches to school, and had to watch the other kids eating delicious bat McNuggets while they were forced to choke down another of Mom’s crummy locust sandwiches. What makes you think bat would taste better than locust? > [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](#): > > FYI, locusts are also halal. > > Pretty convenient when locusts periodically lay waste to vast swaths of crops and people face starvation or malnourishment as a result. Hey, guess what, we can eat those locusts! Whee! Also, locusts are largely lean protein. Maybe instead of spraying them, we should plant corn just to attract them. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/82 "2012-07-17T17:03:39Z")
Did you read the part where it was a four-year-old thread? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/83 "2012-07-17T17:20:00Z")
I realize that this is a zombie thread, but I had to comment on this, from **Blake** ’s post: > [@](#): > > The biggest problem with that to my mind is one that Diogenes already adressed: that for most of history less than 1% of Semitic people and less than 50% of the population of Palestine had a taboo against pigs. That by itself falsifies Harris’ theory. Quite clearly peoples with taboos against pigs didn’t outcompete those without whether in the NA/ME region generally or Palestine/Judea specifically. The one objectively testable prediction that Harris makes actauly contradicts his own hypothesis. People who keep pigs provably performed better in that environment than those who didn’t. It’s not true that the taboo on pigs is so restricted. The ancient Sumerians and Egyptians had similar taboos against pig, and eating pig is forbiddemn by the Koran as well. In other words, this is a well-established taboo in the Middle East. But not elsewhere – this suggests that either this is the result of cultural diffusion or of environmental conditions, and tilts toward the latter. Pigs DO compete with people for food, despite Blake’s protestations. They can’t eat grasses, unlike non-taboo species like cattle, sheep, and goats. They prefer roots, nuts, and the like, but they’ll eat meat, too. There’s a reason people use [pigs to locate truffles – they like to eat them as much as people do. Harris’ argument is that caring for pigs in the middle east required too much work to be worthwhile (the whole thing about pigs wallowing in mud) and used resources people would. Pigs were successful where you could either let them forage on their own where roots and tubers were plentiful or could feed them on plentiful waste, and where wallows wouldn’t be a problem. The Conquistadors brought pigs over and they were immensely successful foods sources for precisely that reason. Pigs (as Harris and others have pointed out) are immensely fecund, grow rapidly, and are about the most efficient converters of input to useful meat otr products. Harris’ discussion of the role of the pig in 8th and 19th century America is particularly appropriate – pigs were fattened before being taken to market on the corn that was grown. Back then transporting corn to market was the hassle. By converting it to pig you could have it walk itself to market. If you can afford it, pig is a good investrment in time and effort. Harris’ argument is that, for many societires in the Middle East, pigs were NOT a good investment, although tempting. Hence the taboo. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/84 "2012-07-17T17:27:42Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Did you read the part where it was a four-year-old thread? Zombie locusts are definitely not kosher. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/85 "2012-07-17T18:25:51Z")
The (zombie) discussion is moot, isn’t it ? I’m pretty sure Jews have a basic “you can eat treif when your life depends on it” rule/loophole. So even if locusts weren’t kosher (which, as has already been elucidated, they are), John the Baptist could have eaten them while travelling to preach, provided he was hungry and desperate enough. And I’d reckon traipsing around like a bum, being reduced to eating bugs and wild honey qualifies as “desperate”. He was basically starring in _Survivor:Judea_ :p. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/86 "2012-07-17T18:34:09Z")
John the Baptist was running a [mikvah.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/87 "2012-07-17T18:41:19Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > He was basically starring in _Survivor:Judea_ :p. He would’ve won, too, if he hadn’t lost his head toward the end of the season. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/88 "2012-07-17T19:32:46Z")
> [@student53](#): > > According to a Purdue website “locust” meant carob bean of the same sort the Prodigal Son ate. That would certainly put a different spin on Exodus 10. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/89 "2012-07-17T19:49:41Z")
> [@student53](#): > > According to a Purdue website “locust” meant carob bean of the same sort the Prodigal Son ate. > [Carob](http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/carob.html) People bring this up from time to time, but it seems like a late suggestion. Most scholars accept that he’s talking about the insect kind of locusts. Certainly the Greeks were known to eat locusts – Aristotle writes about it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/90 "2012-07-17T22:22:34Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > If there are six, there are four? Read it as “at least four”? Greater than or equal to four legs good, two legs bad? Then there should be no problem with [Cambodian fried spiders](http://youtu.be/aTt8u9KKpdU) being kosher, amirite? NB: Do not click on the video link unless you have a strong stomach. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/91 "2012-07-17T22:25:35Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Greater than or equal to four legs good, two legs bad? > > Then there should be no problem with [Cambodian fried spiders](http://youtu.be/aTt8u9KKpdU) being kosher, amirite? > NB: Do not click on the video link unless you have a strong stomach. ETA - Gives me an idea for a story… _Fried Black Spiders at the Phnom Penh Café_. Nah… it would majorly bomb as a chick flick. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/92 "2012-07-17T23:00:24Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > He would’ve won, too, if he hadn’t lost his head toward the end of the season. And he was so good at the water challenges and the “eating gross stuff” challenges, too. But they weren’t too big on [immunity] idols back in those days, so he didn’t stand much of a chance. I’m still thinking he banged that Christian chick from Texas, though. She really followed him around like he was some sort of Old Testament prophet or something. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277/93 "2012-07-18T00:40:18Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Did you read the part where it was a four-year-old thread? Considering I’m the one who put the fork in it last time, yeah, I noticed it was a zombie. But since it had already shuffled back onto the front page, I used it as an excuse to add some stuff that I didn’t before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-the-baptist-eat-locusts-theyre-not-kosher/441277.md?page=4)