Healthy food | Judaism and the Environment in the Talmud

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The Cost of Healthy Eating: Shabbat 140 B

Posted in Food, Shabbat, tagged food in the talmud, Healthy food, Jews and food, Judaism and Environment, paying more for healthy food on December 6, 2008| 3 Comments »

Should we pay more to eat healthy?

Do we have the right to purchase more nutritious foods that cost us more?

The Talmud answers this question in Shabbat 140B, when relating to Rave Papa’s proposal that a person who could be satisfied drinking beer, and instead decides to drinks the costlier wine, commits the sin of Bal Taschit (wasting objects) by spending excessive money on his beverage.

The editor of the Talmud comments that Rav Pappa’s opinion should be dismissed because Bal Taschit of one’s own body is much worse than Bal Taaschit of one’s money. He recommends that we spend the extra money necessary to eat or drink healthier food for the sake of maintaining our health.

Walk into a health food store today, and you may be perturbed at the cost of the products. Free range eggs, organic vegetables and whole wheat breads cost far more than their less healthy counterparts. But are the added costs legitimate? According to the Talmud, some may be worthwhile.

Healthier foods are often much more labor intensive and produce a smaller yield with a shorter shelf life then their less nutritious counterparts. The smaller volume of goods sold also require a bigger profit margin, to enable the store owner to maintain his business.

As well , many of the less healthy food found in our supermarkets contain large quantities of corn and sugar, products that are unfortunately still heavily subsidized by the U.S, government.

The Talmud takes the long-term sustainable view that it pays to eat properly. The physical, emotional and, yes, financial, cost of heart disease, diabetes etc… caused by an unhealthy diet is not to be taken lightly. In addition to our own health, many of the more nutritious options have a much lower impact on our environment by not using pesticides and excessive amounts of fertilizers while producing more manageable animal waste.

The truth is that not all healthy foods are more expensive and one can eat a perfectly reasonable diet from relatively inexpensive foods purchased at local supermarkets. Fruits and vegetables pastas and other basics are usually much cheaper than most of their processed counterparts and even healthier than the organic chocolate wafer sitting temptingly in the health food store.

And of course the best way to maintain our health and our budget is simply to eat less.