In 2025, I decided to serve a Jerusalem Dinner on the Thursday before Easter. The idea comes from a story in the children’s magazine, Friend, published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In it, a Jerusalem Dinner is explained:
“All the foods were things that Jesus might have eaten when He was on earth. Of course, they didn’t know for sure. But it was nice to think about Jesus eating these same foods with His disciples in Jerusalem. That’s why Gideon’s family called it a Jerusalem dinner!”
I gathered goat cheese, honey, fish, flat bread, dried apricots, almonds, dried figs, olives, cucumbers, and dates. It was a very filling and satisfying meal and, also, nutritionally balanced.
It struck me as I was putting it together that I didn’t need to cook anything and the only things that would have been cooked 2000 years ago would have been the bread and the fish. I also realized that, for my meal, all but the goat cheese and the cucumber were in a preserved form and part of my shelf stable pantry.
I invite you to have a Jerusalem Dinner in your home this Easter to remember Jesus.
(Here’s a pdf of the story.)
