"Quick, give me some of that red stew!"

Yes, this is a picture of American children eating lentil stew…and loving it! Who knew?

Sunday’s lesson was on Jacob tricking Esau out of his birthright using a bowl of lentil stew as leverage. Esau had just returned from a long hunt and was so famished he thought he might die! Jacob took the opportunity to negotiate for Esau’s birthright, a.k.a the firstborn’s legal right to Isaac’s fortune when he died.

I asked the kids if they’d ever been hungry, so hungry that they would be willing to trade something very special to get food. Then we discussed how the Bedouin had to work hard every day to get food; hunting, gathering, occasionally stopping by towns to get supplies (like spices). And, being pastoral nomads, they really didn’t have time to garden. Thus, hunger was common. They didn’t have Dillons grocery stores or McDonalds to go to when they were hungry! So when Esau got back home and smelled Jacob’s stew he was desperate to have some. So desperate that he gave up all rights to a future inheritance.

I made that same lentil stew and brought it for the class to try. I used the recipe for Esau’s Pottage from my favorite new cookbook, The Good Book Cookbook. The recipe calls for chopped onion, minced garlic, olive oil, cumin, coriander, lentils, and vegetable stock. Simple ingredients and fast to make. I reheated it during our story and discussion time so that the kids could have a taste at the end of class. Before showing them what the lentil stew looked like (I knew they might be grossed out!), I showed them the individual ingredients. We touched and tasted raw lentils, smelled each spice, and got our Ezekiel bread ready for scooping (no utensils back then – just bread). I removed the lid off the pot, and a chorus of “eew!” broke out. After a little encouragement and some “what, are you chicken?” the kids reluctantly gave it a try. And one by one I started hearing things like “mmm, this is o.k.” to “I thought it would be worse” to “WOW! This is great!”

The stew went over so well that the kids brought in their parents to prove to them that they ate lentils! And we even had a few younger siblings want to try, too. If the kids loved the stew this much and they are not in want of food, I can only imagine how hungry Esau must have been.