John the baptist, a vegetarian??

The gospels record John the Baptist's diet consisting of locusts and honey. I used to always assume locusts were those flying crop destroyers... a type of grasshopper. But guess what... it ISNT!

From the dictionary:

locust |ˈlōkəst| (noun)
1 a large and mainly tropical grasshopper with strong powers of flight. It is usually solitary, but from time to time there is a population explosion, and it migrates in vast swarms that cause extensive damage to crops. • Several species in the family Acrididae, including the migratory locust ( Locusta migratoria), which is sometimes seen in Europe.
• (also seventeen-year locust) the periodical cicada.

2 (also locust bean) the large edible pod of some plants of the pea family, in particular the carob bean, which is said to resemble a locust.
3 (also locust tree) any of a number of pod-bearing trees of the pea family, in particular the carob tree and the black locust.


And in Counsels on Diet and Foods p.71

John separated himself from friends, and from the luxuries of life. The simplicity of his dress, a garment woven of camel's hair, was a standing rebuke to the extravagance and display of the Jewish priests, and of the people generally. His diet, *purely vegetable*, of locusts and wild honey, was a rebuke to the indulgence of appetite, and the gluttony that everywhere prevailed.

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. Luke 15:16


BlueLetterBible, using Thayer's Lexingcon definition: husks = keration (Greek transliteration)

The name of the fruit, Ceratonia silqua or carobtree (called also John's Bread [from the notion that its pods, which resemble those of the "locust", constituted the food of the Baptist]. This fruit was shaped like a horn and has a sweet taste; it was and is used not only for fattening swine, but as an article of food by the lower classes.


Lost Crops of Africa: Volume II:

Vegetables 11 LOCUST BEAN The West African locust looks nothing like what Westerners might consider a vegetable plant to be. It is a tree. A true Jack-and-the-beanstalk kind of crop, it is indeed related to beans, albeit distantly. It often grows more than 20 meters tall, and people harvest all the pods they can get, sometimes climbing all the way to the top. Outsiders might dismiss this as a tall tale, but they’d be wrong. Locust combines in a single species Africa’s two greatest needs: food and tree cover. More locusts mean more food and more trees, which add up to more hope for a better continent...Locust beans are attractive savanna trees, with dramatically spreading crowns and clusters of globular bright red flowers dangling like holiday decorations on long stalks. And they produce many benefits. For one thing, they produce fruit. Numerous large pods, up to as long as your forearm and wider than your thumb, emerge all over the spreading crown, dangling like the fingers of a green or brown giant. Inside each pod is a yellow or orange dryish pulp. People like it, and no wonder: it can be half sugar and very sweet to the taste, almost like a desert. This mealy delight can make a useful baby food but for many children it may be the main—if not the only—dish, depending on what is left in the family’s granary. It is also made into colorful and refreshing drinks. And it is dried down into a white or yellowish powder that can be stored for later use, at which time it is commonly sprinkled over rice or meat. But sugary pulp is not this tree’s main gift. Instead, it is the seeds enclosed within it that are the most prized product. These are a regular part of people’s diet and, throughout much of West Africa, they also turn into lifesavers in times of famine. They contain about 30 percent protein, 20 percent fat, 12 percent sugar, 15 percent starch, and 12 percent fiber, as well.