Peter and Cornelius

Cooking Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Children will sample kosher foods and explore the rules and reasons behind kosher cooking. They will make a chart of foods allowed and not allowed and decide which ones they like and don’t like.

Bible Background:

is found in the Bible Background forum.

Outcome Objectives:

1. Children will understand the reason behind kosher dietary laws
2. Children can identify at least three foods as kosher or not kosher and know how to read labels marking things as kosher.
3. Children understand the analogy between clean/unclean food and clean/unclean people made in the passage.

Supplies Needed:

• Bibles
• Paper, pencils, and markers for each student
• Paper easel
• Foods with Kosher symbols on them (check your pantry)
• Recipe ingredients
  1 lb each raisins, dates and figs (you can cut the recipe in half)
  1 lemon
  nuts or coconut
• Food Processor
• Lemon juicer
• Grater

Advance Preparation:

• Read the biblical background notes and answer the questions raised in the “themes” section to figure out what this story means to you.
• Read through the lesson and decide how best to manage your time.
• Read the attached summary about kosher foods, which was taken from http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm Be familiar with the main rules regarding kosher laws:
  - Animals you can’t eat
  - Draining of blood
  - Mixing meat and dairy
  - Food preparation
  - Grape juice and wine
  - Additional rules for Passover
• Also, learn to recognize the kosher symbols on foods. Locate a coupe of foods in your pantry that have this symbol and bring them in.
• For the recipe, pre-grind the nuts.

Lesson Plan

Opening:

Read Acts 10:9-23 as a group.
Ask the children if there are any rules in their family about how to eat.

• Can you eat dessert before the main course?
• Can you eat pizza with your fingers? What about lasagna?
• Does your family eat candied grasshoppers? What about sheep eye soup? Why not?
• Does your mother/father make you wash your hands before supper? Why?
• Are there rooms in your house where you’re not allowed to eat? Where? Why?
• Are there any foods that your family always eats for special holidays?

Say that it sounds like you have a lot of rules about eating.

Explain that Jewish people like Peter had even more rules than we do about eating.
Point out verses 10-16.
Pass out the Kosher Do’s and Don’ts handout to the children and read through it.
Have the children circle the rules that would be easy for them to keep. Put a line under the rules that would be hardest to keep.

Based on this list of do’s and don’ts what do you imagine might have been some of the animals that Peter might have seen in his vision? (Make a list)

Take the quiz and go over with the children what foods are kosher and which are not

• Spaghetti and Meatballs (No. Most sauces include romano cheese – meat and dairy)
• Crab cakes (No. Shellfish)
• Hamburger (Yes, provided it was prepared properly)
• Cheeseburger (No – meat and dairy)
• French Fries with cheese sauce (yes, provided fries were fried in vegetable oil, but not eaten in the same meal as the hamburger because that would combine cheese and meat)
• Pepperoni Pizza (No – meat and dairy. Pepperoni could be pork)
• Hot dog (Must be a kosher dog as most dogs contain pork and/or dairy based fillers)
• Eggs and bacon (No – bacon is from pigs)
• Baked beans (No. Usually cooked with bacon or pork fat. Vegetarian beans okay)
• Cole Slaw (Yes, but if there’s a dairy based dressing you can’t eat with a hamburger)
• Clam chowder (No. Shellfish)
• Fish sticks (yes)
• Lasagna (No. meat and dairy. Vegetarian lasagna is okay)
• Egg Rolls (No. Most egg rolls are made with roast pork)

Dig:

Jews followed (and follow) these kosher dietary laws, and other laws, to set themselves apart from other people. It is a way of reminding themselves every day at every meal that they have a special relationship with God and that because of that relationship they can’t just behave like everyone else. Because of who they are they must make Godly choices.
Ask: Is it bad to remind yourself to make godly choices?
Are there times where Christians are supposed to see themselves as ‘different’? When?
When might seeing yourself as “set apart” go too far?

Prepare the Passover Fruit Candy. (recipe attached)
Explain that Passover (which some kids are learning about on Wednesday night) is a special holiday where even more rules are followed, which includes rules about sugar and sweets.

Life Application
God was telling Peter that he no longer had to follow these kosher food laws. But the story about the clean/unclean animals isn’t the main point of the story. What is the main point?

God is saying it is more important to follow Christ than to follow the law.

Reflection:

Journaling:
Rules for being a Christian (If you don’t do ___, you’re probably not a Christian)

Adjustments for age levels and abilities
Younger children will have a harder time understanding the analogy between clean/unclean foods and clean/unclean people. Don’t push the analogy. Let it be enough that they are understanding the dietary part of this story and know that they will hear this again as they grow older.

A lesson written by Lisa Martin from: Trinity UCC
Pottstown, PA

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

RECIPE

Passover Fruit Candy

This recipe was found at www.recipesource.com Only the ingredient list comes from the original source. The directions have been changed so as not to be subject to the original copyright.

What makes this a recipe for Passover? I couldn’t find any documentation, but I know that sugar processing involves water and fermentation – which you can’t do with grains used for Passover. I’m guessing that using sugar violates this same rule. So grinding up these intensely sweet dried fruits can satisfy your sweet tooth. The original recipe called for figs, dates, and raisins (all mentioned in scripture and available in the Holy Land), but I imagine other gummy dried fruits – apricots, prunes, etc. could be substituted.

Ingredients
1 lb. Figs
1 lb. Dates (seedless)
1 lb Raisins (seedless)
1 lemon, insides juiced, rind grated
Chopped nuts or coconut (unsweetened if you can find it)

Supplies
Food Processor with a sharp blade.
Lemon juicers
Grater

1. Grate lemon rind and juice the lemon.
2. Grind figs, dates and raisins. (you might want to do in batches)
3. Add juice and rind of lemon.
4. Form into balls and roll in chopped nuts or coconut.