We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Fish. The Nile abounds in fish, which they might catch freely. The fish of the lake Moeris, brought a considerable revenue to the king of Egypt. (Herodotus, ii. 149.) The Hebrews had dwelt also near the Mediterranean Sea. Fish was formerly in greater esteem than it is at present. The priests of Egypt abstained from it, (Herodotus, ii. 37,) and the people from such as had scales, and from eels, because they believed they were sacred. (Herodotus, ii. 72). Porphyrius and Ovid even maintain that they refrained from all fish, as well as the Syrians. But they had not probably carried their superstition so far, in the days of Moses.
Garlic. These things are much more delicious and wholesome in hot countries. The Greeks fed much on cucumbers and garlic. (Aristophanes)
The Turks still delight in them, eating the former raw with sour milk, (which would be very dangerous in our climate), and onions, which are as good as our pears. (Spon. Bellon. iii. 18) The wounded Machaon feasts upon onions (...
We would be censured along with those who dwelled in the desert and who desired the disgusting food of vice and filthiness after having eaten the heavenly manna, and we would seem to complain like them: “It was well with us in Egypt, when we sat over pots of flesh and ate onions and garlic and cucumbers and melons.” Although this manner of speaking first referred to that people, nonetheless we see it now daily fulfilled in our life and profession. For everyone who has first renounced this world and then returns to his former pursuits and his erstwhile desires proclaims that in deed and in intention he is the same as they were, and he says, “It was well with me in Egypt.” –.
Prosperity has a way of bringing about the downfall and complete dissolution of the unwary. Thus the Jews, who from the beginning enjoyed the favor of God, repeatedly turned to the law of the kingdom of the Gentiles. When they were in the desert, after receiving manna, they kept recalling onions! Homilies on the Gospel of John
