Because the
term "to eat bread" is a Semitic term of art that means "to eat". The
stress in the context of Mk 7:2,5 is not on what was being eaten, but
rather that they hadn't undergone the ritual bathing of the hands.
Do you
really think the only thing these folk were eating is literal bread, like
some sort of opposite to those modern protein diets? Since "to eat bread"
is merely a cultural expression, we decided to translate the meaning,
rather than to transverbalize the woodenly literal.
Frankly, if
we left the word "bread" in these passage, it might make uneducated people
think that the disciples were vegetarians or even vegans, a stupid view
that, nevertheless, does
make an
appearance every once in a while, despite the Tanakh's requirement
that the main course of the Passover meal consist of lamb.
