Jesus Eats Bread, but John the Baptist Eats None. Dr. Chapman Chen

“The Son of Man [Jesus] has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard…’” (Luke 7:34, ESV). This statement by Jesus is often misused by anti-vegans to allege that He consumed animal products. In reality, it was “the Pharisees and the experts in the law,” who “rejected God’s purpose for themselves” (Luke 7:29–30), that called Jesus a glutton and a drunkard.

Here, what Jesus came eating and drinking is contrasted with what John the Baptist did not eat or drink — namely bread and wine: “John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’” (Luke 7:33; cf. Phelps 2002, 131–33).

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Indeed, Josephus, in the Slavonic version of The Jewish War, describes John the Baptist as “a strange creature, not like a man at all... He never touched bread; even at Passover feast he would not eat the unleavened bread... Wine and other strong drink he would not allow to be brought anywhere near him, and animal food he absolutely refused — fruit was all that he needed” (trans. G.A. Williamson  https://archive.org/details/bwb_KR-555-383/page/30/mode/2up?q=%22animal+food%22).

In other words, both Jesus and John the Baptist were vegan (Jesus famously declared, “I desire compassion, not sacrifice” [Matt. 9:13, 12:7], echoing Hoses 6:6. And He died for the cause of animal liberation [Mark 11:15-18; Akers 2000, 113-134]). But Jesus ate bread and drank wine (grape juice). (He blessed the bread and wine in the Last Supper.) Whereas John the Vegan Baptist didn’t even eat the unleavened bread at Passover feast.  

That being said, the kind of wine that Jesus drank was not alcohol but grape juice freshly squeezed or preserved, or juice from dried grapes, or grape wine made from grape syrup and water, or unfermented or fermented stored wine diluted with water at a ratio as high as 20 to 1. Oinos, the Greek word for wine here, can also mean grape juice, and the context of the wedding at Cana (John 2:1–11) suggests that the guests were not drunk, but sober. For more detailed discussions on use of oinos in ancient Jewish communities and/or in Jesus’ times, see Robert P. Teachout, "The Use of 'Wine' in the Old Testament" (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1979) and “Wine, Wine Press”, International Biblical Encyclopedia, (https://www.internationalstandardbible.com/W/wine-wine-press.html).