One popular understanding of John the Baptist’s time in the wilderness is that, though the text says he ate “locusts and wild honey,” he actually ate locust bean pods, not insects. This has become such a part of Christian mythology that the carob tree, which produces edible bean pods and is native to the Middle East, is also known as St. John’s Bread.
We find the description of John the Baptist’s diet in Matthew 3.4 and Mark 1.6. Both gospels say that he lived on ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον — that is, locusts and wild honey. The key word here is ἀκρίς, meaning locusts. Besides these two verses, ἀκρίς also occurs in Revelation 9.3 and Revelation 9.7 where it is used to describe a plague of insects. Locusts are also listed in Leviticus 11.22 as one of the “clean” foods that are permissible to eat. (more…)