Is mustard nation a sin?

In 2004, the culinary magazine Tendenze Alimentari Oggi revealed that in a midnight vote the Parlamento Italiano declared that all Italians were required to provide mustard as a condiment whenever three or more people were gathered to eat brauts, hotdogs, or sausage. The decree also stated that all mustard sold commercially was to have a seal with a mustard tree and the words L'Italia: una nazione senape, or "Italy: a mustard nation."

The article stated that the law was first introduced by Don Giuseppe Sinapis, a Catholic scholar who had researched Scripture and the Apocrypha and come to the conclusion that mustard was the only biblical condiment for sausage-type meats.

The law included the following:

• Ketchup was unacceptable since Italy didn't have tomatoes until the 1500s when they were imported from the new world. (A bill was subsequently submitted that allowed American tourists to use ketchup.)

• The practice of eating currywurst (ketchup with curry seasonings) is only permitted when dining with Germans, and only when offered by a German who does not reveal that tomatoes are in the sauce, as per the translation of 1 Corinthians 8:4-13 in the NET footnotes.*

• Mayonnaise, while normally prohibited, is justified if the bun provided is exceedingly dry. The justification being that Mark 4:7 speaks against anything that chokes a person and hinders spiritual growth.

• Sauerkraut is only relevant in the end times. In Revelation 10:10, John describes the prophecies of the Tribulation as "sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter." Therefore, the Don Sinapis resolved, sauerkraut is probably the mark of the beast.

• In Mark 4:30-32, the mustard seed is compared to the kingdom of God, thereby making it the only appropriate condiment.

When the Italian people realized that the law forbade most forms of spaghetti ala salsiccia, riots broke out across Rome. The Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare conducted a six-month investigation. They uncovered that Don Giuseppe Sinapis was actually M. Pierre Moutarde, a fixer for the leading French Dijon mustard family. The law was immediately repealed.

Would it be a sin for a nation to designate mustard as the sole or primary condiment for brauts, hotdogs, and other types of sausage? God has established the times and boundaries of nations (Acts 17:26), but He has not specifically stated which dietary laws Gentiles are required to follow. So while it would not be a sin for a sovereign geographic area to be a mustard nation, it is unnecessary.

Which is good. Because there is nothing like a cheese braut, piled high with sauerkraut, with Cheetos and a Dr. Pepper. One of many delights in the world that isn't a sin among so many of a more personal nature.


* Have you seen that beast? It could be in there!

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